Oranjegeel bier met heel veel schuim wat ook nog eens lang blijft staan. Smaak is bitter hoppig met iets van gras, wat hooi, citrus en een wat spicy bijsmaak die zeker niet vervelend is.

Zwart bier met weinig schuim. Smaak is bitterzoet met veel rook, gebrande noten wat koffie en een beetje bitterheid van de hop. OK.

Goudgeel bier met schuim. Smaak is licht gerookt met iets van gerookte bacon, wat kruiden en een beetje hop. Heel fijn bier, maar waarschijnlijk alleen iets voor de liefhebbers.

Bottle at Bernie's Brugge. Hazy amber colour lasting cream colour head. Some funk saison aroma
. Decent in the mouth. Tasty enough saison. Good malts. Good almost tripel like fruit. Good bitterness on the finish. Good first beer of the day.

Lichtbruin bier met schuim wat niet lang blijft staan. Smaak is bitterzoet en kruidig met iets van honing, sinaasappel, wat zoethout en abrikoos. Heel goed bier.

Oranjegeel bier met schuim. Smaak is bitter hoppig en fruitig met veel gras, wat citrus en grapefruit. OK.

0.33l bottle, thx Fil! Added it as a Vienna because UT, but with rye and oats and so on... Doubtful. Hazy deep amber body, off-white head gone soon. Caramelly aroma, autolysis evident. Caramelly yeasty autolysis taste, lightly floral. Prickly and smooth but... off...

"American IPA" (whatever that means) by Skøllmann in Damme, a 'bierfirma' having their products executed at De Meester (formerly Gulden Spoor apparently so it seems to be around for quite a while); seemingly claims to contain mandarin, but the ingredients list does not mention that in any case. Longneck bottle from the Delhaize supermarket at Dok-Noord in Ghent. Thick and frothy, rocky, cobweb-lacing, egg-white, even-bubbled, dense head on a deeply misty orange- to peach blonde robe with almost amberish-brownish tinge. Aroma of dried mandarin peel indeed (!), spoiled chicken soup, wet old yellow curry powder, Italian Marzano tomatoes stewed for a very long time, wrinkled autumn apples, cooked parsnip, pumpkin, cumin cheese, touches of honey, ripe peach, pond water, clove (4-vinyl-guaiacol) and overripe cucumber. 'Greenish', somewhat soupy onset, lacking the brightness that any contemporary IPA should have, directed at cooked pumpkin, unripe peach and stewed eggplant with a touch of apple peel, remaining appropriately low in sweetness whilst acquiring more of that soupy umami flavour (as in chervil or chicken soup); quite spritzy in carbonation, with softish mouthfeel. Cereally core with a rusk- and breadstick-like malty layer on top of it, so actually more malty than many a contemporary IPA (unjustly) is, with these malts - even becoming a wee bit toasty in the end - being overruled by a leafy, somewhat earthy but also very thinly citrusy hoppiness, fighting against a heavy, almost 'meaty' dosage of clove- and bouillon-like 4-vinyl-guaiacol. Aromatically speaking it loses the fight ingloriously, but luckily the hops do provide a trace of an earthy, wet autumn-leafy, 'dark' bitterness in the end, lasting for a while. Yet again, we are presented with a weird attempt at 'generic' American IPA - that alone is suspicious enough already - in the country of overly yeasty, sometimes brilliant and sometimes oddly earthy and unbalanced ales, resulting in something best overarchingly described as 'Belgian IPA'. This one in particular clearly has no clue, as it seemingly tries to evoke the old West Coast idiom - in itself already dated for at least a decade - and miserably fails at that. Too bad: I recall having their black IPA (preceding this one for all I know) along with Yuri Hegge at one of the Zythos beer festivals in Leuven, and actually liking it... This is a completely different story altogether, very soupy, yeasty, earthy and phenolic - even within the "Belgian IPA" category, I cannot honestly say I liked this. I am always suspicious when the De Meester name appears - and yet again it is clear that IPAs in the 'international' sense are not their cup of tea at all, regardless of what Skøllmann's imput is. Could, and should, have been much better.

330ml bottle. Hazy, orange golden colour with average to huge, frothy, moderately lasting, minimally lacing, white head. Grainy malty and slightly yeasty fruity, minimally fruity hoppy as well as minimally spicy aroma, hints of spelt, some apple, melon, a touch of ginger. Taste is tart-ish, grainy malty and spicy, minimally yeasty fruity and fruity hoppy, minimally diluted hints of spelt, some apple, ginger, a touch of melon; accumulating, peppery ginger spiciness.
Watery texture, slightly dry palate, medium, dense, prickly to lively carbonation.
Suitable composition, yet a bit imbalanced and overcarbonated - nice.