24/VIII/21 - 33cl bottle as a gift, shared @ summer holiday in France, BB: 15/II/23 (2021-954) Thanks to Arno for the bottle!

Little cloudy orange beer, small aery irregular off-white head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: bit yeasty, ripe banana, malty touch, fruity notes. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: little bitter in the start, yeasty, phenols, banana notes, sweet malty touch, slightly hoppy. Aftertaste: pretty bitter and dry finish, little malty, grassy touch. Not getting much of that promised honey, to be honest.

Bottle, orange beer, small head. Aroma is wheat, fruity, tart. Taste is the same, tart, wheat, light lemon. Ok

Clear golden colour, white foam. Citrussy, notes of peach, medium sweet, a bit herbal. Somewhat unbalanced.

Balnced towards sweetness, phenols are there, but it is candy-like a hair much. Clean. Good beer, not great. Albert heijn Amsterdam

Blonde ale with orange peel by this brewery in between Amersfoort and Arnhem in the northern Netherlands – a brewery aiming at reaching a large audience apparently, present in many Belgian beer shops as well these days. Foamy, snow white, cobweb-lacing, rocky head on a clear ‘old golden’ beer with pale orangey tinge and visible sparkling, turning misty with sediment. Aroma quite off-putting, with an enormous amount of overcooked broccoli and other vegetables – the DMS scent I always hate, but amplified by whatever sulfuric element the used orange has brought in, old rubber, rotting grass, halfripe banana, old leftover dough, moldy cereals, honey, coriander seed, old dishwater and kitchen cloth – but hardly anything refreshing, which is what an orange-flavoured beer should at least try to achieve. Sweetish, fruity onset, sourish edge from the orange – very clearly so, but again more like a moldy orange and hardly refreshing; very fizzy carbonation, very minerally; slick cereally and bit doughy malt body, some coriander and then, of course, that wave of rotting leaves and overcooked vegetables, very extreme. Back in the mouth, a floral and bit spicy hop bitterness, accentuated by the bitterness of the orange peel, lingers in the end. I have nothing against the use of citrus peel in beer, but this is not an easy ingredient to master and in this case it is the most likely cause of a very unpleasant sulfuric effect which totally ruined the whole beer for me. I think I am going to pass for these Heidebrouwerij beers next time.

Dutch IPA the commercial way, pushing its way through Belgium as well alongside a whole string of more classically designed Heidebrouwerij beers. Some gushing indeed, but quite manageable if you are prepared. Towering high, membrane-lacing, egg-white, rocky and stable head, hazy peachy amber robe with ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of old dried orange peel, old rusk, fried tomato, some light melon, banana peel, dried lemon thyme, dried peach, hints of paprika powder, mown lawn, overripe onion, leek, chicken stock, sweaty feet, burning rubber and something very faintly smoky I cannot quite put my finger on. Fruity onset, sweetish with banana peel and apricot aspects flanked by subtle hints of red apple and cherry tomato, softish fizz (the carbon dioxide clearly not being well 'bound' here), slick and bit glueish body; bread-crusty, old-biscuity and softly toasty malts, generally remaining on the sweetish side if bittered a bit, especially when the hops set in, providing retronasal herbal, vague toasted onion and somewhat more pronounced citrus peel aspects as well as moderate bitterness. Hints of sweaty feet and rubber turn things a bit more to the 'dark side' - but worse, the alcohol eventually becomes noticeable, which should not be the case in a beer of this ABV. My sample may not have been in prime condition, but that does not take away the fact that this beer is a half-hearted 'Belgian' style IPA at best; the sweet melon-like note that lingers in the end does not have enough power to save the day. A bit messy and unbalanced, vaguely 'off' but drinkable alright - but by no means a match for the best IPAs the Netherlands have produced in the past fifteen years (Uiltje!) and clearly aimed at a larger, ignorant audience.

Hazy dark blond colour with wispy head. Plenty of sweet malts and a decent body. Quite spicy too.