6.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

8/XI/20 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent), shared @ home, BB: 30/XI/21 (2020-1035)

Clear bright gold blond beer, big creamy solid white head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: malty, floral touch, bit of a soapy impression, raw grains, bit yeasty. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice bitterness up front, bit grassy, hoppy, hint of banana. Aftertaste: malty, grains, hint of ripe banana, yeasty, very bitter, banana peel.

4

@ 2018

7.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

After a debacle with Eutropius, the rather star-crossed Humboldt & Gauss project from Ghent moved to De Feniks for production of their beers, which will hopefully give them some breathing space to continue their great work and, who knows, start their own brewery in Ghent one day. This is the latest addition to their range to date, a hoppy lager containing four different hop varieties, and another sign of Humboldt & Gauss being closely in touch with international craft beer trends. Eggshell-white, very mousy, regularly shaped, even-bubbled, lightly lacing, stable head on a misty yellow-golden blonde beer with vague olive greenish tinge and some visible sparkling. Aroma of freshly cut green apples, unripe melon, green banana, white bread crumbs, something soapy, whiff of lemon zest, dry cookies but unsugared, hints of flour, field flowers (the Hallertau, I suspect) and 'pistolets'. Crisp, lightly sweetish onset, some light 'green' fruity notes of unripe banana and Granny Smith apple but generally quite neutral as can be expected from a lager, lively carbonation with pleasant minerally effects that do not overrule the flavour, supple and slick body, slightly soapy. White-bready, cereally middle with that soapy aspect continuing, elegantly hoppy finish, quite delicate with notes of wild roses, green melon, deadnettle and lemon zest, but nothing overpowering; the hops further provide a relatively gentle, grassy bitterness lingering about in the end, accompanied by bread crumb-like yeasty accents. It is probably not fair to compare and I kind of knew this beforehand, but this is way better than the other novelty lager recently released in Ghent, called Coucou (see my previous rating here)... Not sure if this one will ever become my Best Friend if I take the rest of Humboldt & Gauss' range in consideration, but this is undoubtedly a modern, subtle, elegant, graceful and still very easily drinkable creation again, completely in line with their 'house style' even if all their previous beers were technically ales.

7.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle from Geers. Pours hazy ochre with a big, lasting, frothy, white head. Aroma is very zesty: mandarin, lemon, lime, yellow grapefruit; apple peel, yeast, faint banana, bread dough. Taste has sweet ripe mandarin, apple & melon, quickly becoming bitter thanks to grapefruit & fruit peel accents, all the while yeasty, bready, with a zesty sour touch. Dry, floral hoppy finish, spicy-yeasty still but grapefruit & mandarin peel have the final say. Medium body, oily texture, fizzy carbonation. Extremely drinkable Ale by H&G again, so fresh!

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

4/II/20 - 33cl can from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 4/X/20 (2020-120)

Pretty cloudy orange beer, big creamy dense off-white to yellowish head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: nice and fruity, bit malty, oranges, orange peel, bit oxidized. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bitter start, fruity notes, sweet caramel malts, hoppy, bit resinous, dry, some peaches, melons. Aftertaste: fruity, bitter, bit herbal, orange peel, bit sweet, malty, some grains, caramel touch, bit floral, pretty bitter finish, some citrus.

7.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Ever since the New World hop varieties gained international success thanks to their vivid, bright and fruity aromas, European (especially German) hop farmers have been trying to develop hops with similar profiles, to the extent that Humboldt & Gauss today has a whole spectrum of European hops at their disposal that mimick the American originals - enabling them to make this fully 'European session IPA', hopped with three of Germany's new hop varieties (Hüll Melon, Ariana and Mandarina Bavaria) combined with old noble Saaz. Can of three months old. Thick and frothy, egg-white, very mousy and stable, intricately cobweb-lacing head, misty to even cloudy, peach-hued deep orange blonde robe. Bright and indeed 'New World-like' aroma of fresh mandarin, blood orange, ripe melon, watermelon even, Cape gooseberry, fresh lychees, dry biscuit, rusk, freshly cut grass, fresh camomile flowers, vague soap. Lively onset, sweetish with hints of green mango, watermelon (!) and peach, soft carbonation but still with lovely minerally notes, very soft and supple body; streamlined, mildly biscuity and cereally malt sweetish body brightened by highly aromatic, citric hops, again mandarin, orange peel and melon with a dash of strawberry somewhere, adding a zesty, grapefruity and eventually peppery bitterness that fills the finish, alongside lingering rounded maltiness, lingering but not too disturbing soapiness and powdery bready yeastiness, yet without any interfering yeast flavours (so the choice for an English ESB yeast clearly has been a clever one). Typical soft, aromatic and modern Humboldt & Gauss house style, with both malts and hops coming out beautifully; very refreshing, though close to 5% ABV may be just a tad too high to fully qualify as a typical 'session' IPA. Very elegant, expressive little beer - one of those satisfying low alcohol IPAs I could drink by the gallon on a sunny day. Keep up the good work guys!

8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Bottle from Dranken Geers, Oostakker. Pours hazy dark golden with a lasting, thin, frothy, off-white head. Aroma of grapefruit, pomelo, apple peel, mango, lime, mandarin, peach. Taste has sweet mandarin, peach & lychee wrapped in a yeasty, bready-doughy malty profile, going over sourish lime & bitter touches of grapefruit peel, spices & a faint dank accent. Dryish, earthy hoppy finish, still very fruity, tropical & slightly spicy. Medium body, oily texture, fizzy carbonation. Very elegant & refreshing, clever beer, perhaps one of the best Belgian beers I've had recently.

7.5

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Subtle. Malty, bit of sweetness. Citrus.