Alengrin (11609) reviewed Nordic Celt from Straete Brouwerie 10 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5
Another creative concoction by this odd young microbrewery in West-Flanders, a kind of brown ale (in the most general sense of the word so not the traditional English ale style) brewed with - hold on - pale and dark barley malt, black oats (a relative of regular oats often used in horse feeds but very rarely - if ever - in beer), wheat, roasted barley, four hop varieties including Nelson Sauvin, kveik yeast and Brettanomyces... Not your regular Belgian dubbel, that much is clear, and frankly I cannot find any other category to fit it in - so I had to take peace with 'traditional ale' here in spite of the fact that there is nothing actually traditional about it... The admins can correct me on this but I frankly have no idea which of the set categories on this site would fit this beer better. Anyway: very slow gusher, pouring a medium sized, greyish off-white, tiny-bubbled, tightly 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, slowly breaking but generally stable head and initially clear, dark mahogany brown robe with bronze glow, turning hazy and more greyish-brown further on. Aroma of coffee grounds, dark wholegrain bread, roasted chicory, old 'herbes de Provençe', dried elderberries, something sweaty, a whiff of unripe peach, salsify, dry forest floor, wild lingonberries, old pipe tobacco, brown bread crust, old ground walnuts, black tea, wet leather, dried blueberries. Spritzy onset, quite minerally in its effervescence (not surprising seeing the slow and limited degree of gushing) but not bothering the fruity esters too much, relatively dry (even if the brewer describes this beer as sweet) with a deep sourish undertone, evoking dried prunes, dried blueberries, a touch of medlar and some green pear, but certainly not the more exuberant, almost 'Belgian' fruitiness I tend to expect from kveik-fermented ales. With all those different grains, it comes as no surprise that the middle is predominantly malty and grainy: a lot of dark brown bread crust, roasted cereals and toasted walnut, topped with a chicory-like roasty bitterness which fills the finish. Wheat seems to be somehow less prominent than the black oats (adding this 'dark' kind of graininess somewhere) and the roasted barley - in fact it is hardly recognisable at all. Given that this is also a raw beer, the fact that it was not cooked does show a bit, such beers tend to actually have a 'raw' kind of taste I do not particularly appreciate, but here this - always - subtle aspect remains hidden under the other flavour components. Herbal and very earthy hops then add to the roasted bitterness, with some leafy and tea-like notes, while the Brett provides a leathery accent (but not too much 'funk') and more earthiness which, combined with the roasted barley, eventually becomes a tad ashy. The sour aspect that underlies it all, remains active till the finish, and as in many artisanal stouts and porters it probably comes from the roasted barley more than from fermentation. In all, a 'dirty' and earthy ending, with some berry-like fruitiness lingering atop that roasted chicory-like bitterness, dryish and a bit sour - complex indeed, but I do not really get the full effects of the kveik so it could have displayed its fruitiness perhaps a bit more exuberantly; the Brett, on the other hand, is more dominant, in a leathery, dry kind of way. Not bad, quite drinkable and interesting even, but somehow the net effect strongly reminds me of a very 'artisanal' Walloon brune more than anything truly nordic. Perhaps less odd and outgoing than it was intended to be...
Alengrin (11609) reviewed LemonDe from Straete Brouwerie 11 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Kettle-soured raw ale – not the most self-evident concept even in craft brewing in general – created by this innovative microbrewery in the Waregem region. Snow white, medium sized, breaking but stable head, cloudy yellow-blonde robe with beige hue. Aroma of lemon juice (prominently so even), stale mandarin juice, human sweat (even sweaty socks), kefir, ripe pear, green kiwi, artisanal yoghurt, sourdough, unripe pineapple. Sour, very lemony onset – as the label already gives away, lemon is indeed the prominent flavour here somehow, with even a sharp acidic edge as in actual lemon juice; other than that, hints of pear and pineapple are present, in a sharply carbonated environment. Slick wheat breadiness, the inherent sourishness of the wheat reinforcing the lemon effect further, with sourdough undertone and yoghurty lactic feel in a crisp, drying way. Something chalky pops up in the finish, as happens in many Berliner Weisse beers, which is fairly close to what this is – though in a more ‘funky’ way, with notably sweaty side effects. Weird concoction, in all, made to an experimental brewing method that involves warming without boiling off the lactic bacteria (their further growth is apparently controlled by the alcohol and the pH itself, according to the brewer), so indeed raw... Some odd effects in the nose and in the mouth very lemon-forward, both a bit much so for some I think, but still somehow an interesting one, far removed from the classic blonde and tripel ales the average new Belgian brewery would come up with.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Midnight Driver from Straete Brouwerie 11 months ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5
Low-alcohol stout (1% ABV) by this young one-man brewery in Desselgem – which quite originally opted for stout to become ‘NABLAB-ed’, must be one of the first in Belgium. Medium sized, creamy, yellowish beige, shred-lacing head, very dark chocolate brown robe (blackish) with burgundy edges. Aroma of caramel candy, walnut paste, ‘Koetjesreep’, old liquorice candy, stale sweat, coffee grounds or diluted cold black coffee, bayleaf powder, cream going sour. Sweetish onset with sourish edge, as if infected in a dull, ‘funky’ and lactic kind of way, persisting through the entire thing; hints of plum and cooked blackberry, medlar, medium carb with rounded mouthfeel which admittedly feels fuller than expected for this ABV range. Caramelly and Ersatz-chocolatey middle developing coffee grounds roastiness, a leathery accent and salmiak-like notes in the end, supported by a dash of earthy hops. That dull, dim sourishness keeps piercing through it all, reducing drinkability a bit, but otherwise this is a rather ‘believable’ attempt at creating a full-bodied stout experience without the alcohol – even if it is still no match for the non-alcoholic version of Guinness, for instance.
tderoeck (22711) reviewed LemonDe from Straete Brouwerie 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 3
8/III/25 - 33cl bottle @ home, BB: n/a (2025-264) Thanks to Alengrin for sharing the bottle!
Pretty cloudy light yellow beer, small aery irregular yellowish head, unstable, dissipates quickly. Aroma: very zesty, lemony, spicy, weird, funky, chemical touch, solvents, not very pleasant. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: chemical start, minty, soapy, pretty sourish, weird, not a big fan. Aftertaste: very acidic, a bit lemony, sour, chemical touch, zesty, some white peaches, tastes pretty infected all in all. Not a good sour.
tderoeck (22711) reviewed Midnight Driver from Straete Brouwerie 1 year ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 2
8/III/25 - 33cl bottle @ home, BB: n/a (2025-262) Thanks to Alengrin for sharing the bottle!
Clear dark brown to black beer, small aery irregular beige head, pretty stable, non adhesive. Aroma: malty, good roast, grains, cow fodder. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: a bit sourish, gentle roast, very herbal, laurel, weird but not too bad. Aftertaste: weird, very herbal, a bit funky, more roast, infected impression, a little sweet, meh.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed The Grape Gatsby from Straete Brouwerie 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
Wheat ale flavoured with Syrah grapes and therefore technically a grape ale - one of Straete's less obvious creations, showcasing this brewer's search for the special and the non-conformist, at least in a traditional Belgian context. I appreciate that, but he could have been a bit more generous: the steinie bottle containing this nectar is filled to only about two inches below the crown cap - far from full, in other words, but I did pay the full price... Opens with a mean hiss, but no gushing. Medium sized, regular, moussey, off-white, stable head on a hazed peach blonde robe with orangey salmon-ish hue, turning all murky and more amber-tinged dark orange with sediment. Aroma of bottled grape juice for kids rather than actual Syrah grapes but still some true grape odours, roses, red apple, apricot jam, white bread dough (but not necessarily all fresh), tulips, honey, cherry blossoms, orange zest, sweet potato, green banana, unripe melon, damp earth, vague background hints of sewer water and rubber somewhere - but luckily vague enough not to disturb, just a small 'tache de beauté', let us say. Very fruity onset, more 'grapeyness' in the mouth than in the nose in fact, with an acidic effect at first (though more stonefruit- or berry-like than lemony) but also sweetening and softening, pairing up with fruity esters reminiscent of pear, light banana and a dash of lingonberry; medium carb (a bit low even for this type of beer), slick sourish and doughy wheat creating a steady backbone for ongoing fruitiness, which becomes all 'rosy' and spring-like in the finish, like the fruit trees blossoming in Limburg or the first tulips and daffodils blooming. Earthy and rubbery notes come along to remind me that in fact, despite the benign and sunny weather announced for next week, we are still in winter time - disrupting the spring idyll, as it were. More sourishness from the Syrah grapes lingers in the end - but I miss that typical rich, somewhat spicy Syrah flavour (one of my favourite grape varieties if I ever have any), which I did find in e.g. a Syrah grape sour by Baghaven in Kopenhagen, from what I recall. Nevertheless this grape ale presents a refreshingly yet altogether agreeably sour, very fruity, blossomy and juicy finish, with these earthy notes trailing behind. Feels a tad amateurish and crude to be honest, but it does show a lot of potential: with some 'cleaning', perhaps a somewhat sturdier malt base and perhaps even more Syrah grapes, this could be turned into a truly delicious grape ale Italian style. As for now: an interesting start of that process, which will no doubt take a lot of time and effort.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed General of Disarray from Straete Brouwerie 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
Next to General of Chaos, another barrel aged barleywine from this interesting new microbrewery in West-Flanders, this time aged on Jim Beam bourbon barrels - for no less than six years, which is longer than anything I have seen before in barrel aged beer, except for some of Struise's creations, perhaps... If this is true, then this Straete guy has been working on this beer for four years longer than the official opening of his brewery, which is of course perfectly possible considering his preceding experience as a hobby brewer - but it does remain remarkable that any brewery would publish a beer that physically existed before the brewery itself formally did. Anyway: apart from some loose, large, disparate, beige-tinged bubbles around the edge which vanish in the blink of an eye, no head is present - and none can be created even with forcing; beautifully warm bronze robe with fiery copper red glow. Aroma of caramel liqueur, Belgian chocolates, sweet Jim Beam of course and a whole lot of it, strong oak furniture but also furniture polish, varnish, methylated spirits, 'Koetjesreep', pecan, dry earth, very old hazelnuts, almond, wood glue, Picon, oxidized sweet sherry, vague hints of 'dropjes', nutmeg, dried autumn leaves and porcini. Sweet onset but not too sticky, with a vague sourish touch underneath and quite some 'dark' fruitiness of ripe pear, blue plum and blackberry jam; some dark sugars linger but again, do not stick too much. Carbonation is as good as completely flat, making the overall mouthfeel needlessly 'heavy' and cumbersome; a caramelly, toffeeish, hazelnutty and brown-bread-doughy dark maltiness glides over the tongue, does get thinned by the alcohol but still suffers from diminished drinkability due to the total lack of carbonation. Lots and lots of woody, tannic oakiness in the last stages, as expected, pairing actually well with the nutty side of the malts and producing a vanilla-like colour retronasally, where the alcohol combines with it all, resulting in something old fortified wine-like (a very old bottle of sweet sherry kept by my grandmother springs to mind). Before long, the bourbon takes over, and does so in a way that can indeed be characterised as 'disarray': it scorches and heats, dominates the poor beer brutally and produces headache-inducing solventy side effects. The bourbon flavour lasts for a long time, but luckily the caramelly and nutty character of the beer is carried along with it. Over the top, like its colleague Chaos, way too boozy for me personally to go wild about - a classic case of muscle-flexing and audaciously exploring boundaries I guess, but in its defense, it does match its overwhelming alcohol content (and effect) just a little bit better with a clean, nutty, malty barleywine profile than General of Chaos, operating at the same ABV but coming across a bit more yeasty and quadrupel-like. So if I had to choose between chaos and disarray, indeed the latter would get my preference (even if both essentially mean the same) - whilst realising how cynical this may sound in the geopolitical context of our present day.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Rabarbier from Straete Brouwerie 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Philly sour flavoured with rhubarb from this adventurous new one-man microbrewery in West-Flanders - the fact that he knows and uses Lachancea yeast, rather than classic lactic bacteria, demonstrates that this guy is well aware of recent developments in craft brewing. Quite an aggressive gusher, so be ware. Thickly foamy, dense, rocky, tightly plaster-lacing, off-white head diminishing but finally resting stable on a cloudy deep peach blonde robe with 'dirty' ochre-brownish tinge. Aroma of unsugared fruit yoghurt, stewed rhubarb rather than raw, milk, violets, daisies, tulips, Pink Lady apples, goat cheese, sawdust, mashed green banana, roux blanc, green garden weeds. Gently but persistently sour onset, the soft lactic acidity of the Lachancea enhanced by the oxalic acid of the rhubarb, with side notes of unripe banana, green apple, ripe gooseberry and some vague pear; medium carb, smooth, bit 'milky' mouthfeel, feeling fuller than its modest ABV would suggest. Soft milk-bready core under ongoing lactic and oxalic sourness, with this green fruitiness travelling along and turning into a more 'weedy' kind further on; grassy to even peppery hops provide an important background bitterness (a bit more so than average for a sour even) while the Lachancea continues to add its restrained lactic sourness. Somewhat 'dirty' in the end and in need of cleaning up, while the rhubarb, even though recognisable enough, could have been a bit more outspoken for me; the gushing is of course not a plus, either. Still, if you are looking for a special sour in the below average ABV range, this is quite enjoyable - I think well-chilled on a benign afternoon in spring, this may be a very tasty quencher indeed. Not entirely my cup of tea - I have not been very impressed with Philly sours in general so far anyway - but within its own concept, not badly done and certainly original especially in a Belgian context.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed General of Chaos from Straete Brouwerie 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Superstrong dark ale by this young microbrewery in West-Flanders, extensively aged on an Irish whiskey barrel. Steinie bottle straight from the brewery. Loose, pale beige, open 'head' fizzing away in instants like the foam on a glass of coke, hazy deep chestnut brown robe with ruddy-coppery glow. Strong aroma of very pronounced whisky (even including peat though not overwhelmingly so), caramel, raisins, brown bread, toffee, old wood, marmite, pecan nuts, dried figs, cane sugar on fried pear, vanilla (oak!), hints of clove, floor polish and fried oyster mushrooms. Dark-sugary sweet onset, fig, pear, raisins and a touch of fried apple with a very subtle mushroom-ish umami accent on top, paired with this continuously sourish undertone (blackberry); soft carb as expected, rounded vinous mouthfeel. Brown-bready, lightly hazelnutty, deeply caramelly malt core with a very light toasty edge (though hardly bittering) and mildly leafy hop bitterishness, increasingly soaked in heating, very boozy yet 'pure' whiskey, with a dash of peat thrown in for good measure as well as a whiff of vanillin-like oak wood - but also a lot of rather 'rough' alcohol and a somewhat 'dirty' earthiness (problably more from the beer itself). Seriously warms the throat; this is rough around the edges and in need of some finetuning - a bit less whiskey booziness could already help, and when I read that its congener General of Disarray is apparently even boozier, I hesitate to open that one... Reminds me strongly of Jopen's Verloren Zoon series which, though not lacking in complexity and certainly pleasing those who love a very strong, robust beer, had the same crudeness and was drowned in alcohol to the exact same extent. Interesting one, nonetheless, but in its basic structure more a Belgo-Dutch style quadrupel than a true barleywine in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the word.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Vicious from Straete Brouwerie 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Another of these 'twisted' Straete brews: a witbier flavoured with not the classic coriander-curaçao combo Pierre Celis introduced to the genre in the sixties (and which has been slavishly followed in the decades that followed), but with eucalyptus, a seasoning found only very rarely in beer (yet all the more so in cough syrup). I recall a Berliner Weisse with eucalyptus concocted by Alvinne many years ago and I also recall being pleasantly surprised by it - unexpectedly - so I figured this one too is worth a shot. Very thick and foamy, egg-white, thickly plaster-lacing, audibly crackling, uneven-bubbled yet stable head on an initially clear, warm golden blonde robe with lots of visible sparkling, quickly shifting to a hazy, honey-yellow golden hue. Aroma of eucalyptus oil from afar, long before the other components shyly arrive: dried apple peel, bread crust, green banana, unripe pear, white soap, raw quince, chamomile, wet sandpaper, limestone. Spritzy onset, rather harsh carbonation distracting from the flavours and adding a souring aspect, painfully numbing the tip of the tongue before hints of green pear, Granny Smith apple and unripe peach unfold; slick, slender mouthfeel, coarsened by the (over)carbonation. The eucalyptus gradually creeps in over a cereally, thinly white-bready core, with some clear wheat sourishness but less clear wheat soapiness, only to become dominant in the end, with this minty, perfumey, cough syrup-like effect one can expect. Soft but persisting floral hops provide dryness in the end - as does the general dryness of the beer as such - and even establish a bit of bitterness, though this may well be due to the eucalyptus as well. A whiff of old dried citrus peel seems to linger at the back, reinforcing the aforementioned bitterness which lasts for a while - more 'deeply' so than is averagely the case in this style. The wheat is there, but the 'ensemble' does not shout 'witbier' to me - it seems to lack this typical soft soapiness and slickness it usually has, and therefore lacks a bit of elegance, tilting everything to a more grainy side, which is - unsurprisingly - dominated by the eucalyptus. That said, this spicing seems to dominate less than I was expecting: it is clear from half a yard away when the bottle is opened, but in the mouth it only spreads after the middle point of the flavour 'parcours'. The overcarbonation bothered me more than the eucalyptus, which is a bold find, but I am not convinced it really works in this kind of beer. An oddity for sure, but somewhat 'off' in comparison with the other Straete beers I tasted so far and definitely below their average quality level (at least from what I can judge up till now). Interesting effort to make witbier appealing again - after its popularity seriously declined in the past decade or three - but neither the classic Hoegaarden lover (now usually aged) nor the craft beer enthusiast will get wild about this, I think.