9/VIII/24 - 33cl can from Stroom (Gent), shared @ home, BBQ with Seb, Maria, Nathan & Anke, BB: 17/VII/25 (2024-713)

Clear orange to gold blond beer, small creamy white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: yeasty, spicy, malty, sweet impression, lots of ripe banana. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, very yeasty, banana, soft bitterness, quite some alcohol. Aftertaste: sweet, spicy, banana, yeasty, melons, sugary, malty, soft bitterness, very malty, ok.

33cl can de et partagée avec Tderoeck @ Tim's BBQ extravaganza, merci!
BB 17/07/2025.
Léger pâle, col fin blanc-cassé.
Arôme reste assez classique avec un caractère belge au niveau de la levure - léger côté banane. Apport délicat de ce que je suppose sont des houblons belges: Magnum et Centennial. Cela apporte un délicat bouquet florale surfant sur les agrumes mais tout en ayant une note terreuse.
Palais garde une approche assez belge avec une petite note de banane venant des esters - assez épais en bouche avec une touche huileuse voire sirupeuse. Pointe épicée rappelant la coriandre et le clou de girofle avec un fini floral.

Cold IPA by Stroom in Ghent’s Heirnis quarter, sampled during the local festivities there last weekend. Thick and frothy, membrane-lacing, snow white, dense head over a misty pale straw blonde robe with vague beige-ish tinge. Aroma of fresh lemon zest, grapefruit peel, old Parmigiano, dried white bread, minerals, white pepper, freshly cut grass. Clean, sleek onset, no esters, a bit lager-like as intended in this style of course, sharply and very minerally carbonated (as in carbonated bottled water); slick cereally body, touch of slender white-breadiness, very vaguely sweetish and sourish but quickly bittered by long, grassy and zesty hoppiness, peppery with a dash of lemon zest and a pinch of lemongrass, with drying effect. Rather unassuming: this ticks all the boxes for a cold IPA, but it kind of lacks personality and could benefit from a more outspoken New World hop bouquet (citrusy, tropical or otherwise). Still, it does fulfil its purpose as an easygoing, hugely drinkable ‘go-to’ IPA, so to speak. Technically very well executed for sure.

Wheat ale containing grilled pineapple – I guess Stroom had some of that odd ingredient left in stock after that Gorda (which, contrary to this one, also contains grains of paradise). Can shared with Craftmember and Goedele. Snow white, thin, shred-lacing, bubbly head on a clear pale straw blonde robe. Aroma of indeed noticeable grilled pineapple (!), green pear, unripe melon, sweat, red onion, lemongrass, fruit yoghurt, rhubarb, whitecurrant, kiwi. Crisp onset, sweet-sourish (though this description may unintentionally evoke associations with Asian cuisine), fruity with some pineapple early on but also pea, melon and kiwi, lively carbonated with slender yoghurty-lactic tartness under a cereally, wheaty core, all light and lean, with the grilled pineapple effect returning once more retronasally; a mild grassy touch appears in the end but there is hardly any bitterness at all, so that a rather straightforward wheat slickness, sweet fruitiness from that pineapple and very mild but important tartness continue and silently fade away. Original and very refreshing, light-footed, elegant little summer beer.

26/VII/24 - 33cl can from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ Ardennes Holiday, BB: 5/VI/25 (2024-609)

Clear orange beer, creamy dense off-white head, unstable, falls down quickly, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: malty, caramel, cookie dough, a bit spicy, sweet impression, a hint of chocolate. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, a gentle roast, lots of caramel, malty, a bit sugary, more sweetness, spicy touch, ok. Aftertaste: sweet malts, some ripe banana, yeasty touch.

24/VII/24 - 33cl can from the brewery (Gent), shared @ Gentopia, Zuidpark, Gentse Feesten, BB: 19/III/25 (2024-599)

A little cloudy pale yellow blond beer, big aery irregular white head, unstable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: nice, pretty fruity, tropical fruits, pretty juicy. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: lovely, good strong bitterness, a bit grassy, resinous, hoppy, very dry. Aftertaste: very bitter, more resinous hops, almost medicinal, a little fruity.

Kveik ale (or "Norwegian farmhouse ale" as they call it) flavoured with grains of paradise and, much more exotically, grilled pineapple - an ingredient that may seem as alien and unwanted as pineapple on pizza (as far as I am concerned), but which could work out very well; I recall the deliciousness of a similar creation, Alvinne's Phi Smoked Pineapple, very vividly, even though smoking this much-maligned ingredient is obviously still a very different thing from grilling it. Thanks to Craftmember for delivering me the can straight from the brewery. Thick and frothy, membrane-lacing, egg-white, dense, fluffy head on an initially clear, deep and warm 'old-golden' beer with 'metallic' pale orangey tinge and thin but enthusiastic strings of sparkling rising up from the middle. Aroma of potato peel, soggy old bread, DMS (overcooked broccoli), grains of paradise indeed but in this case coriander powder-like, very little to no pineapple (!), wet toast, damp earth, unripe peach, thyme, dandelions, stale spice bread, leftover dough, withering grass, nectarine peel. Fruity onset in a rather dryish way, some pear and peach, hints at unripe nectarine and oxidized apple, sweetish with a faint sourish streak underneath, pierced with minerally carbonation; slick, slender mouthfeel, feeling thinner than the ABV would suggest. Pleasant maltiness in the middle with noticeable wheat slickness and effects of soggy crackers, lightly toasted white bread and a dash of rusk, flavoured with a slightly astringent and vaguely soapy grains of paradise effect but the grilled pineapple I was promised, remains eerily absent so far. Makes a turn for the bitter in the finish but not dramatically so, instead slowly moving towards a gentle, herbaceous and grassy hop bitter phase, while retronasally that DMS returns, the already limited fruitiness fades away and bittersweetish maltiness remains, with a light minerally aspect to it. Something sweetish lurks in the background after swallowing - sugary almost, as in, I guess, grilled (canned) pineapple, indeed bringing forward a pineapple-like retronasal scent eventually. Light earthy notes linger as well, from the kveik yeast I presume - a hype I have never been overly impressed by, as it seems more useful to craft brewers than to consumers. Feels no fruitier than the average Belgian ale - most of the 'old' Belgian saisons (Dupont, Pipaix, Blaugies) are more fruity and estery than this; other than that, the grains of paradise, albeit a traditional flavouring in many beer styles, do little else than add a somewhat coriander-y note, and the grilled pineapple, though noticeable, remains faint to that extent that I see myself actually grilling a pineapple next week just to know what that really tastes like. On top of all this, the DMS bothered me a bit as well. In all: drinkable enough, but not as special as advertised, feeling more like the umpteenth coriandered Belgian blonde than anything else. Not Stroom's greatest achievement so far, but still enjoyable, all things considered.

Can at home in the garden, 27th June 24. Pours off clear gold. Aroma of resin and citrus. Taste is bitter, some resin and citrus, a bit lacking, Okay

Irish red (the modern craft beer style invented in France in the seventies) as interpreted by Stroom in Ghent; can at café De Kleine Kunst, located at the end of the same street as where the brewery is. Egg-white, medium thick, moussey, stable head on a clear amber-glowing orange blonde beer – red enough for the intended style, I would say – turning hazy with sediment. Aroma of dry caramel, cashew nuts, rusk, dried orange peel, unsalted peanuts, dried apricot, hints of toast, parsley, black tea and vague background farmland. Clean, rounded onset, subdued in fruitiness and sweetness with faint hints at dried apricot and apple peel, quite fizzily carbonated with smooth mouthfeel; dry-caramelly, peanutty, biscuity and toasty malt body, dryish and softly bittered by herbal hops in the end, remaining mild but pleasant and well in balance with the maltiness. Seems a tad yeastier, breadier and earthier than your typical Irish red but given that the whole style is an ‘industrial’ invention, this can be said of most ‘artisanal’ small-scale interpretations I guess; the net result is not that far removed from a ‘spéciale belge’ or even an English pale ale, but certainly enjoyable.