Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Oud bruin (or indeed intended as the historical 'Oudenaards bruin') aged in red wine barrels, thanks to tderoeck for sharing. Yellowish beige, moussy, medium thick, quite dense and stable head on a misty caramel brown beer with deep burgundy red glow. Aroma of redcurrant, sour grapes, sour cherries, moist oak wood including the 'vanilla', old dry red wine, caramel, dust, old cotton cloth, red apple, damp earth note, medlar. Crisp and very fruity onset, lots of redcurrant, sour grape and some apple, medium carb, supple and slightly vinous mouthfeel; caramelly and brown-bready malt core under a lot of tart red fruit, even a very faint side note of raspberry vinegar, but also a lot of strong woody tannins acting in a drying, but also enriching way; ends with a restrained earthy tone, as well as lots of that tart red fruit lingering about. Refreshing for a barrel aged beer thanks to this vivid tart fruitiness, layered and - apart from the wine barrel element, which nevertheless remains relative modest - ticking all the boxes for what one would expect from a twentieth-century style 'oud bruin', only a bit more tangy and bold. Better than expected, to be honest, and another solid Petre Devos offering.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
25/VI/21 - 25cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared with Alengrin @ home, BB: n/a (nothing to find on the bottle or label) (2021-528)
Clear red brown beer, small creamy beige head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: super fruity, lots of red fruits, some wood, earthy, humus, almost mushroom like smell. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: good, very fruity, gentle bitterness, quite some tannins, red currants, nice acidity, very refreshing! Aftertaste: dry, good acidity, no vinegar at all! More of a citric acidity, very earthy, some tobacco, nice stuff, really like it!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle from LDW. Clear amber colour, white foam. Nice fruity hints with notes of peach, lemon, lactic sourness, vinous. Refreshing tart, some sweetness. Great beer.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
3 July 2020. At Bar Beenhouwer, Ghent. Cheers, Anke, Pieter, Meeki & Ama Deke! Hazy yellow with a stable, small, frothy, white head. Aroma of yellow apple, yellow grapefruit, turnip, peas, pineapple, stale lime, vague butter. Taste has sweetish pineapple, apple & pear, bready maltiness with a zesty sour touch. Dry, floral hoppy finish, mostly spicy with yeast, apple & grapefruit peel. Medium body, oily texture, fizzy carbonation. Yeasty, bitter Belgian Ale (not even really hoppy); so IPA? NEIPA??
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Hazy brown colour, beige foam. Medium sweet, some sweet malts, caramel with some fruity raspberry notes. Medium bitterness. Well balanced. Ok.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
New strong saison by the guys of Petre Devos Audenaerde, bottle from De Hopduvel in Ghent. Very thick and foamy, egg-white, mousy, papery lacing head over lightly hazed, deep 'metallic' orangey-tinged 'old gold' beer, turning into a misty peach blonde with sediment. Aroma of canned peaches, coriander seed, banana candy, sweet cider, pancakes, honey, calvados, bread crust, acacia blossoms, fried apple slices, ripe pear, Turkish delight, dried camomile. Sweet onset with hints of dried banana (so less explicit banana ester than expected), peach and cooked apple, even yellow raisin to a certain extent, lively carbonated with sharp minerally and initially even painfully stinging effects, light sourish undertone accentuated by this strong carbonation; smooth, somewhat glueish and vaguely soapy, full body. Sweet-caramelly and white-bready maltiness with a layer of honey-like residual sugars on top, ongoing fruity notes and growing spicy phenols, towards a spicy finish (clear coriander seed) with a relatively mild floral hop bitterishness and lingering honeyish sweetness - all heated by calvados-like, prominent, eventually somewhat astringent alcohol. The alcohol takes over too much in the finish, but more or less behaves decently before that; still, too boozy and sweet for me, like all those sweet and boozy tripels you see in Belgium, both in the old(er) days and today. I guess the aim was to arrive at something along the lines of Dupont's Moinette Blonde or Blaugies' La Moneuse, but those actually do have this seemingly 'wild' saison profile, whereas this one is only a saison in the brewery's description and intentions, but not in the glass. After lovely experiments with sour ales and a few other unusual brews, I cannot help but feeling that this is a bit of a step backwards for this range...
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5
Quite good beige-cream head over fully opaque, orangey tinted brown beer. Very perfumey, almost effeminate marzipan-frangipane nose, but covering a much nicer woody-lactic acid aroma, consistent with good Oud Bruin. Bit of caramel. Very dry, and watery dark malt flavour with some wood, milkchocolate, but generally very dull. No more lactic acid, no more refreshing acidity, as promised by the nose. Perfumey, but lame dark malts. Not very well-bodied, lean and watery, and not very carbonated either. Aftertaste is bitterish metallic. Seriously disappointing.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5
24/IV/20 - 33cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ home, BB: 10/X/21 (2020-368)
Clear red brown beer, big creamy beige head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: sickening sweet, overripe banana, overly spiced, lots of star anise, cardamom, some rotting fruits, caramel, chocolate notes, rotting autumn leafs. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sugary, lots of banana, red wine, bit oxidized, caramel, red berries, more rotting fruits, some tannins, unpleasant bitterness, puke. Aftertaste: weird unpleasant acidity, vomit, roasted touch, red wine, wood notes, some raspberry jam on warming up, soft roast, caramel, bitter finish. Not a fan of this beer.