Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle from LDW. Hazy golden colour, white foam. Medium carbonation. Rather sweet and yeasty with notes of banana. Some spices. More a tripel than a saison but not bad!
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Blonde sour ale from a ‘bierfirma’ originally dedicated to resurrecting an old brand of a local Belgian ale – then, likely inspired by ‘t Verzet where they brew their beer, making a turn towards the experimental and modern craft beer idiom, much to my surprise. I remember the wine barrel aged version of this ‘Auguste’ as being little less than stellar, so I was looking forward to trying the regular. Slow gusher, but manageable with sufficient time and care. Egg-white, mousy, opening head lacing in dots over a misty, deep and warm orange-tinged peach blonde beer. Aroma of moldy oranges, sour grapes, Bretty ‘stale urine’, crabapple, ripe melon, dry white wine, gooseberries, hints of lime, green pear, dough and raw leek. Sweet-and-sour onet, grapey with purple gooseberry and sour apple impressions but a sweet melon hint too as well as some green apple acetaldehyde, fizzy carbonation, lactic acidity throughout, gently drying a soft, sweetish bready malt ‘underground’ with a slight caramelly edge; long, vinous finish, white wine and gooseberry aspects strongly lingering along with that green apple note. Some lemony sourness, but in all remaining soft, clean, well-balanced and accessible for this style, this is surprisingly decent, brightly fruity and very well executed, though lacking a bit in depth. Nevertheless a great start for what is hopefully a new sour ale project in Flanders – I’ve seen much poorer starters in that field than this one.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
New one in this ever-growing Petre Devos range, a quadrupel flavoured with raspberry, caramel and ‘kinnekessuiker’ (blonde sugar), intended as a winter warmer. Even-bubbled, yellowish beige, mousy, loose, almost immediately open and quickly receding head, eventually reduced to a wafer-thin ring, on a misty, deep mahogany brown beer with purplish hue. Aroma of sweet raspberry candy or raspberry jam indeed but not too pushy, caramel, candied figs, blonde sugar melting on a hot pancake, fried banana, cloves, toasted bread, stewed plum, ginger powder. Sweet onset, candi sugar sprinkled on estery impressions of banana, plum and fig, some light sourishness underneath with a subtle raspberry note to it (more subtle than expected actually), which also seems to provide additional sweetness; medium carbonated, full and somewhat glueish mouthfeel. Full-fledged toffee- and brown bread-like maltiness, the toffee aspect obviously enhanced by the added caramel but again not too dominantly so; toasty-bitterish ending, accentuated by a hop bitterish, herbal touch but the candi (or indeed ‘kindekenssuiker’) sweetness lingers in the end, alongside caramelly maltiness, fruity esters and a glow of warming, port-like alcohol. Quadrupel with a fruit-sweet twist, not unlike those sweet fruit stouts and porters you encounter every now and then, but the added ingredients have (luckily) been kept relatively subtle, so that the natural flavours of the beer still get enough to say. Better than expected, to be honest.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle from LDW, Eke. Dark brown colour, beige foam. Nose of balsamic vinegar, wood, red fruit. Taste is tart, fruity, red berries, some balsamico. Lovely tart and sour ale!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle from 1950s. Caramel brown. Oxidized caramel, burnt wood, smoked molasses, charred dirt. Medium body
Not bad for it’s age. Caramel brown / lots of caramel, woody smoke, molasses and oxidized toffee 3.4
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
25cl bottle, many thanks JefVerstraete for this! Pours misty gold, white frothy head. Confident bretty nose. Taste is brett-forward, sharp, sour with funk, vinegar, funky yoghurt, lactic, complex super brigh brett with lots of wild flourishes.. excellent sharp flavoursome bretty pale.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle from LDW, Eke. Hazy golden colour, white foam. Tart nose of lemon, milky sourness, wood. Taste is tart, lemony, complex, some yoghurt notes. Very refreshing and interesting!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
01/06/2019 - tasting glass from 75cl bottle @Brouwers in het Bos, Ename. Hazy blonde with small oily looking lacing at sides of the glass. Nose is fresh fruits, (appricot, apple, ..maybe bit grapes), nice oak, lactic. Feels a bit oily, taste is grains, sour, apple, bit lemon, nice oak, dry fresh and fruity ending. Impressed.!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
01/06/2019 - tasting glass @Brouwers in het Bos, Ename. Cloudy straw yellow, small lacing at sides of the glass, nose is sour, green apple, bit lemon, wild yeast. Taste is grains, lemon, green apple, sour, fresh!