Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Draught Small but stable off-white head over clear metallic copper-orange beer. Very lambic-y nose, citrus, berries, fruitlambic - blind I’d wagered Cantillon. Light citruss, fruity, faintly wry, wild berries, sorrel, lactic acid. Light-spritzy, refreshing, well-carbonated. The nose could go for Cantillon. The rest is totally different, but certainly worth trying.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bouteille 75. Brune foncée-cuivrée, col épais crémeux blanc-cassé. Arôme offre un bouquet malté grillé, fin torréfié qui offre des relents de caramel virant sur le mélanoµîde en rétro. Petite touche chocolatée accompagnée par une balance minime des houblons nobles. Palais est malté, grillé, fin torréfié, le tout reste très belge dans l’approche belge dans la levure, une version qui n’est pas en nitro, café perce sur la fin e reste accompagné d’un léger houblonné noble conférant un fini finement amer et fleuri. Le tout est poussiéreux - orienté grains.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
To my knowledge, this is the first of Hildegard van Ostaden’s creations at Hoppeschuur commercialized outside the premises of the brewpub; apparently the Delhaize supermarket chain has now decided to literally make very small Belgian brewers’ faces more familiar to the larger beer drinking audience, a fact I can only meet with enthusiasm - I hope many more micro brewers get the chance to present their work to the public this way (so I would even call upon the population to buy these beers, so that it stays interesting for Delhaize to maintain this project). Medium thick, pale greyish beige, moussy head leaving appealing ’paper’ lacing on the edge of the glass; colour deep burgundy brown with ruby hue, hazy and very dark but still completely translucent, so by no means looking like a ’true’ stout. Aroma of roasted pine nuts, dry walnut even, bitter cocoa dust, a lot of caramel, dried autumn leaves, ’old’ coffee grounds, soap, fig, medlar, ’natural’ iron, white pepper, pear, elderberry, dry bark, liquorice candy and, alas, a (fortunately) faint hint of cooked red cabbage (DMS - possibly implying production had to move fast in order to get all these bottles onto the market). Restrainedly sweetish onset of dried fig, dried banana and raisin with a deep, basic blackberry sourishness stronger than the sweetness, very light meaty umami accents increasing in the course of the palate, and fairly sharp carbonation distracting a bit from the actual flavour, but not really overcarbonated. Smooth, ’full’ malt backbone, caramelly and nutty but primarily toasted bitterish, evolving from subduedly sweetish to dryingly bitter, aided by peppery, spicy, leafy hop bitterness ensuring a dry finish of medium to fairly long duration; alcohol remains completely hidden. Bitter roasted malts rule the final impression. Dry stout the Belgian way, perhaps the name ’café’ (coffee) would imply an even stronger roasted bitterness, but the hops help to prolong the dry bitter aftertaste; still it has some ’Belgian yeast esters’ which have no relevance in this particular type of beer. In all, a very decent beer for sure, aptly illustrating the point Delhaize is trying to make here; I guess this kind of publicity may draw more people to - in this case - the Hoppeschuur, where it would prove interesting to compare this with the nitro tap version served at their premises. Note to self: have a draught Café Noir when I make it to Knesselaere... In this form: quite alright and a bit ’different’ from what the average Belgian beer consumer can find in Delhaize, that by itself is important enough, but in all honesty, I did expect more ’coffeeness’ from this and it could do with a bit more body and complexity. In terms of style, however, this is not really a foreign stout, rather a ’Belgian compromise’ between abbey dubbel and dry stout.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
750 ml. bottle @ home. Last rating from 2015. Blackish very dark brown, big light beige head. Nose is thin powdery chicory, thin herbal, malts, powder, hay, light roast,… Taste is coffee but very much in a chicory fashion, chocolate as well but thin & herbal, leaves, herbal, instant coffee, powdery, cacao powder, light roast, faint vegetable notes,… Body is lightly powdery, huge chicory coffee. Acceptable, good when compared to Guinness but nothing compared to a good stout. Still nothing bad here, it drank decently enough, stouts like this just seem a big pointless for, I would prefer either a mild or RIS depending on the desired ABV over this.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Imported from my RateBeer account as Microbrouwerij Urthel/De Hoppeschuur Samaranth Oak Aged Batch #2 (by Microbrouwerij Urthel):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 15/20, MyTotalScore: 3.6/5
5/XI/15 - on tap @ de Hoppeschuur (Knesselare) - BB: n/a (2015-1540) Thanks to Bas for the little extra!
Clear ruby red beer, creamy yellowish head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: very fruity start, earthy, tobacco notes, very spicy, peppery, very woody, some lactobacillus. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: bit fruity, oxidized, sherry and port notes. Aftertaste: bit sourish, bitter touch, oxidized, earthy, spicy notes, tart finish, port, bit nutty.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Imported from my RateBeer account as Microbrouwerij Urthel/de Hoppeschuur Saisonnière (by Microbrouwerij Urthel):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 13/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5
5/XI/15 - on tap @ de Hoppeschuur (Knesselare) - BB: n/a (2015-1539)
Clear orange beer, creamy white head, solid, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: banana, fruity, bit sweet, malty touch, some almonds, spicy. MF: soft carbon, full body. Taste: very citric, fruity, some exotic fruits, pretty bitter, bit yeasty, spicy touch. Aftertaste: pretty bitter, grassy, ripe banana, some sweet malts.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Imported from my RateBeer account as Microbrouwerij Urthel/de Hoppeschuur Solange I (by Microbrouwerij Urthel):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 13/20, MyTotalScore: 3.3/5
5/XI/15 - on tap @ de Hoppeschuur (Knesselare) - BB: n/a (2015-1538)
Clear blond beer, creamy white head, pretty stable, bit adhesive. aroma: yeasty, quite a lot of coriander, bit fruity, some banana. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty sweet start, ripe banana, yeast, bit fruity, hint of peach. Aftertaste: lots of coriander, bit sweet and fruity, yeast, quite some yeast here.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9
Imported from my RateBeer account as Microbrouwerij Urthel/ de Hoppeschuur Pure C Duindoornbes (by Microbrouwerij Urthel):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 9/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 18/20, MyTotalScore: 4.1/5
5/XI/15 - on tap @ de Hoppeschuur (Knesselare) - BB: n/a (2015-1537)
Clear blond beer, big creamy white head, little stable, falls down quickly, non adhesive. aroma: very fruity, peaches, bit sweet, little funky, bit dusty. MF: soft to no carbon, medium body. Taste: very fruity, citric acidity, bit woody, funky, some artificial brett (Y-yeast?). Aftertaste: little bitter, fruity, citrus, bit sourish, funky touch, peach, some banana peel, nice beer!
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
@ Hoppeschuur, Knesselare. Hazy blond colour, white foam. Medium carbonation. Light sweet, some spices and nose of flowers. Easy drinkable.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
@ De Hoppeschuur, Knesselare. Dark red/brown colour, creamy beige foam. Very complex. Full body. Aroma of roasted malts, caramel, red fruit, chocolate and wine. Very well balanced. Sweet, light tart, bitter finish. Very good!