Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
31/X/24 - 33cl bottle from Dranken Marlou (Zonhoven), shared @ Fleur & Christophe’s place, BB: IX/2025 (2024-1161)
Clear blond beer, big solid creamy white head, stable, a bit adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: fruity, citrus, oranges, lactobacillus. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty sour, lactic acid, bitter touch, a little fruity, lots of citrus. Aftertaste: nice acidity, fruity, lots of citrus notes, apples, somewhat soapy.
Alengrin (11675) reviewed Locren from Brewmine TAP Stadsbrouwerij 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
New beer commissioned by a diner (or rather, 'frituur') in Lokeren, with a name referring to this smallish city in East Flanders; executed at Brewmine TAP in Hasselt, a very different side of Flanders, somewhat surprisingly. Offered in 33 cl Vichy bottles and 75 cl bottles in the Delhaize supermarket of - where else - Lokeren. Bit of a gusher, so be ware. Thick and frothy, pillowy, egg-white, membrane-lacing, dense and almost creamy, stable head on a cloudy peach blonde robe with 'dirty' orangey tinge. Aroma of ripe banana, overripe yellow plum, Durondeau pear, cooked parsnip, brioche bread, old dry apple cake, clove, dried chamomile, chestnut honey, vague hints of mandarin, flour, grass, sugared lemon, limestone, oatmeal porridge, petrichor. Sweetish, estery onset, banana ester but not too plumply so, refreshed by a citrusy note (mandarin) which could come from added curaçao (the ingredients list annoyingly only mentions 'spices'), with some side effects of pear, peach and yellow plum, also including a sourish undertone which persists throughout and may hint at some onsetting lactic infection, but at this stage remains quite fresh and undisturbing (maybe I should have another one after a few weeks or so). Lively, even prickly carbonation, distracting a bit from the flavour but remaining acceptable for this style of beer, through a softly brioche-bready and flour-like maltiness, smoothened by oatmeal, which also adds a sharper graininess to the whole. Residual, honeyish sugars oversee this spreading of soft pale malts, but that underlying sourness maintains balance in the aforementioned citric way, even near the finish; there, a glimpse of more added spices comes in, but very subtly so - perhaps just the dried citrus peel returning (not sure at this point if it is curaçao though - Brewmine TAP may have used dried mandarin or orange peel for a change because that sure is what it tastes like). All the way at the back, a discreet yet important, grassy and very floral hoppiness sits, providing much-needed bitterness in a beer which has remained all too sweet up to this point. Intended as a simple crowd pleaser, I must admit that there is something 'sparkly' and bright to this one - as if it has been indirectly influenced by the global IPA craze and yet has no clue as to what that craze is about. A bit odd, remaining too sweet for too long, but managing to create a fragile balance in the end - with a kind of sourishness running through it that I fear will end in infection, possibly coming from the dried citrus peel they used (if that is what they used - as said, the ingredients list does not provide any details). Not too shabby, less boring and predictable than I was expecting, but sweet and a tad uncontrolled.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Pours clear pale gold. medium sized white head. Scent is lager yeast forward. Rather malty. Taste is fairly bitter, sweet touch. Very expressive lager. Easy drinker. Bit citrussy as well. Quite lovely, and my persona favorite of the 2023 finalist's.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Pours dark, chestnut brown. Small white head. Scent is mildly nutty, rather than roasty. Some hoparoma (yellow fruits) . Taste is full, bit bitter. Malty, but more nutty than roasty. Great beer. more of a brown IPA (super rare style) than a black IPA, but I get the brewer went for a less unknown category to send it in. A great beer, apart from style barriers, but within the brown IPA category I'd love this even more than within the Black IPA's.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Pours hazy blonde. Medium, stable white head. Scent is typical and outspoken on the saison phenols. Taste is full, intense, very smooth. Dry, but not as dry as usual. Outspoken phenols. Very malty. Tad too sweet for a saison, otherwise very good indeed.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5
Crowler from the taproom. pours nearly black, medium sized tanned head. Scent is roasted, intense vanilla, fairly boozy and mild for the style, not as silky and smooth as other (internationnal beers) in the genre. Taste is full, roasty, sharp, bit 'plastic', medium vanilla, strange touch of chewy bitterness. Rather low carbo. Seems a bit weird to me. Rather boozy. Some nesquick. Meh.
Kraddel (15872) reviewed CSIpa from Brewmine TAP Stadsbrouwerij 3 years ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Pours very light and rather clear yellowblonde, strawyellow even. Pilsner-lookin' almost. Medium sized , frothy white head fades relatively fast. Scent is a blast of citrus, grapefruit indeed ! bit white-lemonaid like but just has that touch of malts in the back. Taste is sharp, surprisingly bitter and full-on hoppy - whilst remaining fairly clean on the fermentation it does have an oily factor to it. Peppery almost. Admittingly, it's a bit wattery, and doesn't posses a lot of complexity. Hoppy water with a pinch of malts (white bread). it's enjoyable, it's easy, but it's not super interesting . Not too sweet, not sweet at all even, as this is fairly dry indeed. Seems like it could fit very well in a pairing, or as a brainless chugger-beer, but not as well suited for pickin' appart and enjoying on it's own as an activity.
Kraddel (15872) reviewed Prijsbeest from Brewmine TAP Stadsbrouwerij 3 years ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Pours unclear blonde. Medium small white head. Scent is mild, slightly tart, malty. Taste is tart. Mild red candy, sharp and rather thin. Fun and different, yet more of an educational beer than an enjoyable beer.
Kraddel (15872) reviewed Weizen from Brewmine TAP Stadsbrouwerij 3 years ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5
Scent is banana , fairly intense , milder on cloves. Fairly clear, just a touch hazy. Taste is full , banana, rather bland. Coriander is clear, but it lacks complexity. Ok
Kraddel (15872) reviewed Idaho Smash from Brewmine TAP Stadsbrouwerij 3 years ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Pours slightly unclear, small white head. Scent is mild, citrussy
. Taste is raw, very grainy, rough but very natural. Milder bitterness is very pleasant. Balanced, yet a pronounced malty factor.lovely and drinkable beer.