17/V/22 - 33cl can @ home, BB: 20/VII/22, 210610 GSTN (2022-518) Thanks to ElManana for sharing the can!

Clear yellow blond beer, small creamy white head, unstable, falls down quickly, non adhesive. Aroma: fruity, lots of fusels, very alcoholic impression, fruity, some ripe banana, some tropical fruits, hoppy, alcohol, yeasty. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: tropical fruits, banana, mango, pineapple, a bit sugary sweet, tropical fruits. Aftertaste: ripe banana, yeast, alcohol, bitter, a bit herbal, sugary, malty, meh.

15/V/22 - on tap @ Maritiem Museum (Rotterdam), BB: n/a (2022-510)

Cloudy orange beer, small creamy off-white head, stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: malty, yeast, grains, a little fruity, metallic touch. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty bitter, yeasty, malty, fruity notes, some citrus, rather dry, herbal. Aftertaste: bitter, somewhat yeasty, herbal and grassy, sweet malts, some caramel, nice one!

4/V/22 - on tap @ DOK Brewing Company (Gent), BB: n/a (2022-478)

Clear amber to orange beer, big creamy yellowish head, a little stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: lots of banana, malty, a little spicy, grains, hay, cow fodder, where’s that calvados at? MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: sweet start, quite some alcohol, malty, lots of caramel, apples, calvados, a gentle bitterness, a bit sweet, nice stuff. Aftertaste: sweet, caramel, malty, gentle bitterness, lovely stuff!

Strong Cascadian dark ale, brewed by Kaapse in collaboration with Dok on the occasion of their tap takeover there in January. Apparently named after Herman Brusselmans, a popular writer who lives in Ghent’s Patershol quarter (where I have often encountered him). Frothy, dense but slowly opening, yellowish pale beige, medium sized head, very dark chocolate brown robe, as good as black. Aroma of old dried out grapefruit peel, unsugared black chocolate, chicory, black pepper, burnt currants, hard caramel, black olives, coffee grounds, toasted walnuts. Restrainedly sweetish onset, dried blueberries and old raisins but subdued, medium carbonation, full and slick, oily body; bitter black-chocolatey and roasted-nutty malts, quickly shifting to full-on roastedness, coffee- and chicory-like without turning ashy. This roasted bitterness is of course aided by spicy, leafy hop bitterness, but a caramelly sweet aspect of the malts keeps popping up too and the hops lack retronasal aroma for the intended style. Dry finish, with strangely some late fruitiness appearing (apple, prune), very subtly but noticeably so, probably a yeast effect. Smooth, easily drinkable, accessible BIPA, but like most European interpretations of this thoroughly American style, lacking in both hop bitterness and hop aromatics – this is more a hop bitter porter or stout than a true (black) IPA. Needs a much more generous and fragrant dosage of peppery, piney and grapefruity New World hops.

Straw blond colour with thin head. Thin, watery texture. Lightly sharp. A good refresher.

Donkergeel bier met schuim. Smaak is fris fruitig en licht bitter hoppig. Een uitstekend bier met iets van ananas en citrus in de smaak.