Brouwbar’s new quad, a reworking of the original Q56. Medium thick, greyish off-white, somewhat irregular, stable head on a very dark caramel brown beer with burgundy glow. Strong bouquet of overripe (brown) banana, cooked pear, melting candi sugar, kahlua, treacle, sirop de Liège, sandwiches with brown sugar or indeed ‘gestreken mastellen’ (a specialty pastry from Ghent), cloves (strong!), raisins, caramel, dough, brown rum. Very fruity onset, sweet with a very strong banana ester presence as expected, mingling with deep brown ‘candi’ sugariness and aspects of ripe pear and candied dates; minerally, medium carbonation, very full body, almost syrupy even. Deep toffeeish, caramelly maltiness with an edge of ‘Koetjesreep’ to it and a slight nutty core, lots of residual dark sugariness and ongoing sweet fruitiness, while clove-like phenolic aspects come up strong retronasally. Warming finish, port- and kahlua-like alcohol but not astringent or otherwise annoying; lots of brown sugariness lingering (almost sticky even), but some herbal hops provide backing bitterness too. Very rich, thick, sweet quadrupel, feeling ‘fuller’ even than many of the leading commercial examples – quite boastful as such, more bold and ‘in your face’ than Q56 for sure (and more so than I am used from usually restrained Brouwbar). Impressive, but still very true to style; I do believe, however, that it will get better with at least a few months of ageing on it, reducing the sweetness and bringing forward the malts and esters. That said: fantastic quad, good work Benjamin!

8/X/21 - on tap @ Brouwbar, BB: n/a (2021-1143)

Clear dark brown to purple beer, small creamy bit irregular off-white head, stable, non adhesive. Aroma: lots of ripe banana, lots of caramel, sweetish impression. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty sweet, banana, overripe banana, lots of alcohol, bit metallic. Aftertaste: bitter touch, caramel, bit malty, alcohol, sweet, soft roast. I guess I like my Quads with some more age on them...

Hazy session IPA, one of Brouwbar’s most recent to date, and arguably one of their most ‘summery’ beers to date as well. Hopped with four different varieties, namely Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy and Sabro. Eggshell-white, medium thick, moussy, membrane-lacing head, hazy yellow-golden blonde robe with pale apricot tinge. Aroma of lime zest, green banana, some light passionfruit, unripe mango, minerals, gypsum, white bread dough, slight stewed onion or even armpit sweat dankness – but only very faintly so. Clean onset, unripe banana and unripe melon with a touch of green apple, less tropically sweet and sultry than is usually the case in this genre, quite lively carbonated for the NEIPA idiom as well, with a persistent minerally undertone; supple, feather-light body, very light white breadiness aromatized by zesty and ‘green-fruity’ hoppiness, again unripe mango and lime zest with a distant echo of lychee, providing a soft white-peppery end bitterness too – but very soft indeed, as it ought to be in a NEIPA. Light-footed, even thinnish, but highly quenching session IPA, very clean as befits the Brouwbar house style; could perhaps do with a tad more (aromatic, not bitter) hoppiness to fill the gaps as now it is clearly the Citra and to a lesser extent the Mosaic that dominate while Sabro and Galaxy, both delicious when applied generously, remain very vague. That said, this little summer beer does have its own personality, distinct even from other Brouwbar SIPAs and NEIPAs from the past, and went down so easily that other guests at the same table could not get enough of it – an important part of this type of beer, I would say. Recommendable on warm late summer days – hopefully we will get a lot more of those in the weeks to come.

Blonde ale intended as a summery quencher, with a new recipe differing slightly from earlier blondes or tripels by Brouwbar, hopped with Hallertau Blanc. Egg-white, moussy, membrane-lacing, small-bubbled and stable, only slowly opening head, misty ‘old gold’ with pure yellow-golden glow. Aroma of apple peel, ripe pear, minerals, freshly cut grass, green melon, apricot, sweetclover, touches of white soap and gin somewhere faraway in the background. Clean, sweetish onset, fizzy carbonation, fruity notes of pear, melon and apricot, minerally undertone, very smooth and slick mouthfeel; a thin layer of honeyish sweetishness stretches out over a rounded, cereally pale malt sweetishness but nowhere does this combo become too sweet, instead it develops to a floral, grassy hop bitterish finish, very mildly so but adequate enough, topped with a subtle retronasal whiffs of lime zest and green melon. Clean, streamlined and very elegantly balanced blonde, easygoing for sure but not heavily estery, not spiced with coriander or anything else and not overly residually sweet like most other Belgian blondes, most of which fit in a more traditionally oriented and more commercially ‘broad’ approach.

18/IX/21 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a (2021-1104)

Clear dark brown to black beer, small creamy white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: very real, good roast, some coffee, malty, cow fodder. MF: ok carbon, medium to light body. Taste: soft roast, little bitter, some caramel, hoppy, bit resinous, bitter hops, very nice, more like a black IPA than a porter though. Aftertaste: pretty bitter, malty, caramel touch, soft acidity, cocoa powder, nice stuff, little dry, some chocolate, pretty nice beer!

18/IX/21 - on tap @ Brouwbar (Gent), BB: n/a (2021-1102)

Clear blond beer, small creamy white head, pretty stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: malty, grains, fruity, some banana, spicy touch. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bit fruity, ripe banana, gentle bitterness, malty, sweet. Aftertaste: somewhat grassy, dry, bit yeasty, spicy, sweet, malty, caramel, little metallic.

12 August 2021. At Brouwbar. Cheers to Maarten! Hazy black, small, foamy, beige head. Aroma of blue plum, raisin, blueberry, toast, jam, coffee nib, walnut, chocolate powder. Taste has sweet-sourish blue plum, fig, raisin, brambleberry; soft toasty malt body with a nutty edge, some toast & coffee bitterness. Herbal hoppy finish, tart fruity, earthy coffe and vague chocolate. Medium body, slick texture, soft carbonation. Indeed not entirely the intended result but still enjoyable in its own right.