Jednej strony czyc fajowo rzeskie, owocowe chmiele, z drugiej strony jest jakas brudna szmata do podlogi :/ na szczescie delikutasna szmata. Lekkie w uscie. Rzeskie. Chlalne. Moglo byc sups gdyby nie ta szmatka

Superstrong imperial stout flavoured with fermented and smoked chilli peppers, a new Source beer made in collaboration with Fermenthings, the self-proclaimed 'meeting place for lovers of fermentation', a very interesting project also located in the Belgian capital. Can from Etre Gourmet. Thin, greyish beige, dotty-lacing 'ring' for a head with a disparate greyish veil in the middle, blackish robe but in fact not entirely black, rather a very, very dark hue of chestnut brown with ochre-ish edge of about a quarter of an inch off the edge of the glass. Aroma most notably reminding me of nougat and nougat candy with chocolate ('nougatruiten'), next to caramel, shoe polish, fresh paint even, red curry paste, liquorice, black bean sauce or indeed fermented chili pepper sauce, touch of chocolate liqueur, brown bread dough, hazelnut purée, 'jenever', fig jam, wet leather, dust, unsugared dates, old 'Chocotoff' candy with fat bloom on it. Subduedly sweet onset, pear, date and a vague hint at blackberry jam perhaps, sourish touch, softly but consistently tingling carbonation (rather sharp for this style even - perhaps due to the added chillies?); full, rounded body, vinous, but notably thinned by the hefty alcohol dosage. Nougat- and caramel candy-ish aspects in the middle along with a Pumpernickel bread- and walnut-like malt core, some chocolatey aspects and a touch of coffeeish roast in the end - but unable to develop, as the finish becomes quickly dominated by a hot chilli burn on the one hand (indeed a bit like smoked jalapeño peppers - but the smokiness remains very much in the background) and an even more pronounced wodka-like alcohol booziness and wryness on the other hand. Luckily, though, the full, brown-bready 'sogginess' and toffee thickness of the malts are able to absorb the better part of it, even if for me personally the booze factor remains too strong. I do appreciate the chilli heat, though, but this is obviously very personal as one person's capsaicin tolerance will differ vastly from the other's. In all, quite a bold and daring endeavour, this beer, but I think it would have functioned better with less ABV and a more 'dense' and chocolatey malt profile to be juxtaposed agains the chilli heat.

Hazy IPA fermented with a kveik yeast strain, one of the many offerings by La Source that have popped up lately; can from Etre Gourmet. Snow white, rather thinly mousy, slowly breaking, shred-lacing head on a hazy to even cloudy peach blonde beer with pale orange hue. Very dank aroma of moldy lemons, withering leeks, fried garlic, grapefruit peel, frying olive oil, diesel, dry marijuana, bread crust, herb cheese, linseed, starfruit, stale sweat. Fruity onset but remaining restrained in sweetness, hinting at unripe mango, starfruit and pomelo, perturbed by some early hop bitter 'stings'; lively and minerally carbonation. Soft bready, bit doughy malt body drenched in citric and spicy hoppiness, providing the expected dank retronasal effects of fried garlic, toasted onion, green olive and marijuana, but also a bright citrusiness, continued well into the finish as a long-lasting, powdery, spicy bitterness, more so than average for any hazy IPA. Still juiciness and fruitiness do prevail in the end, with a smoothening effect. The kveik yeast adds a fruity character here that matches with the hops, but this effect remains subtle as usual (I have argued before that this whole kveik hype is more of interest to brewers than to consumers) and the hoppiness takes quite a grapefruity, bittering turn in the end, much more so than you would expect from what is essentially intended as a NEIPA. Quenching and quaffable, sure, but I cannot help feeling that it could do with a tad more 'tropical' fruitiness from the hops and a tad less actual hop bitterness...

33cl can, BB 20/02/2021.
Dorée-paille trouble, col très épais crémeux blanc. Devient nettement plus trouble en fin de cannette.
Arôme offre un bouquet fin fruité - agrumes marquées, levure perce en rétro. Petite pointe de pin s'entrechoque avec les effluves d'agrumes.

Palais est léger avec une belle rondeur de bouche relevée par le malt Vienna.
Fruité plaisant venant des houblons, notes d'agrumes avec une fine sécheresse en fin de bouche. Amertume prenante d'agrumes - Comet avec une pointe de citron vert en retrait.
Bière de soif - axée fortement sur une IPA. En fin de cannette, un côté sec ressort nettement plus tout autant que des notes de levure.

Cannette 33cl, 02/03/2021.
Rosée assez trouble, col épais moyen modéré rosé.
Arôme est frais houblonné - pointe acidulée, tropical rappelant la papaye avec une touche d'abricot en retrait. Agrumes arrive aussi sur le tout - in fine, l'orange sanguine perce plus au palais.

Palais est 'sour' plaisant tout en gardant une approche pâtissière.
Orange sanguine moyenne qui donne un caractère frais et fruité d'agrumes - fin en acidité. Hibiscus plutôt en retrait et, en tout cas, en retrait par rapport à l'orange sanguine. Petite fraîcheur menthe en retrait.

330 ml. can @ home. BBF 20.02.2021 so presumably 5 weeks old. Straw golden, frothy creamy egg-white head. Nose is doughy with straw, fluffy faintly sweetish in a good way with low white pepper. Very faint diacetyl but luckily not distracting at all. Good carbonation. Surprisingly bitter in taste & extremely dry in the finish. Mineral with doughy bread, pepper, straw, very dry lingering finish with harsh white pepper, straw and low raw washing power styled bitterness. Very interesting take on the style, almost bit much but overall good.