The first beer by a new client brewer in traditionally beery Maldegem in the Meetjesland region of Eastern Flanders, operating at Gulden Spoor - with a round of applause for being open about that, contrary to all too many other Belgian client brewers. Bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck - and with that longneck bottle and modernist label, I must admit that I initially thought I had bought some Scandinavian craft beer... Foamy, very thick, rocky, egg-white, very stable head lacing in thick patches over an initially clear, pale orange-tinged apricot golden beer with a column of fierce sparkling rising up from the middle. Aroma - after the carbon dioxide sting has faded - of indeed ginger powder and quite a lot of it, freshly baked bread crust, dried basil, red apple slices exposed to air for a while, banana peel, pumpkin soup, fresh chamomile, cloves, soggy rusk, soap (wheat + ginger!), lightly toasted wholegrain bread, herb tea, chicken soup, cooked turnip. Crisp, fizzy onset, sharp and stinging carbon dioxide distracting from the flavour, but still elements of red apple, banana and unripe peach pop up; harsh overcarbonation, even for the intended style, adds a sourishness and minerality that continues for a long time. Supple bread-crusty and lightly toasty, even slightly peanutty malt core, dryish with very little residual sugars, piling more and more ginger on top, while still displaying a certain wheat sourishness and spelt graininess; the ginger becomes a bit much to handle in the end, adding a wry kind of spiciness rather than its usual soapiness, but also a sharpish pepperiness which competes with a dried citrus peel-, chamomile- and bitter leaf-like hoppiness (offering little of the delicately fruit-sweet aromas Huell Melon is normally capable of). The wryness of too much old and dry ginger wins in the end - and what I miss, is the extravagance of fresh ginger (see Verzet's Unwanted Tattoo for comparison). Dry and quenching alright, but also obnoxiously astringent from that spice - which has no place in traditionally brewed saison anyway, but I know this should not matter anymore today. This would have been a fine, if rather straightforward classically conceived Walloon style saison if it were not for that annoying ginger powder. I support the idea of revolutionizing old Belgian ale styles - especially tripel and blond urgently need a makeover in my opinion - but next time, at least aim for a fresh ginger effect instead of a bag of old dusty powder, because that is what this tastes like, in spite of the claim that fresh ginger was used "during whirlpooling".

Huge, very fine & dense light-cream head over hazy orangeish beer with textbook lace. Candi sugar in the nose, lightly toasted & sweet notes; garden herbs & spices. Quite bitter, spicy bitterness. Rather than ginger, I seem to get cinnamon and wormwood. Bit metallic bitterness too. Long lasting flavours. Creamy MF, bitterness is at the edge of astringency, again reminding me of wormwood. Good carbonation. Peculiarity: the stable head is more acidic than hopbitter. The ginger here is restrained, and gives very unusual features.

2/VII/21 - 33cl bottle from Beeratmoviefun (Brugge), shared @ home, BB: 1/VI/23 (2021-558)

Little cloudy orange beer, big solid creamy meringue off-white head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: spicy yeast, orange peel, bit oxidized, some honey, sourish impression, fruity, some banana, more oxidation going on. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty dry, bit sourish, spicy, little grassy, good bitterness, hint of sweet malts. Aftertaste: spicy, bit acidic, ginger notes, very yeasty, little sweet, bit oxidized, some banana, bit malty, more oxidation, good bitterness, spicy and almost herbal finish. Not bad, not bad at all, even despite the oxidation that’s going on. This is probably even much better when drank fresh. Unless it was bottled 1/VI/21, in that case something went wrong to get so much oxidation in one month…