Pours hazed, yellow with a milky hue. No real head. Scent is weak, funk, dry earthy grapes. Taste is tart, very herbal, twigs. Mild on actual fruityness. Some wood, outspoken, but not my thing. Bit buttery finish.

Double West Coast IPA by BBP and apparently one who made it into canned form. Snow white, thick and frothy, foamy head, cloudy ochre-tinged apricot blonde robe. Aroma of toasted onion, green mango, yuzu, pink grapefruit peel, pink peppercorns, wormwood, shallots sweating in peanut oil, Graham crackers, dried thyme, gin. Clean onset, some unripe apricot and green banana but low in fruitiness, medium carbonated with full, oily mouthfeel; peanutty, cracker-ish malt core under grapefruity and wormwoody, leafy, peppery, indeed West Coast-style hop bitterness with retronasal aromatic aspects of toasted onion, orange pith and pink peppercorns – long-stretched and drying, but not overly harsh either. Very decent, conveying the old West Coast idiom well (even if there is still a very faint tropical touch to it), without participating in the arms race of highest attainable IBUs that typified the zenith of the style. Then again, that would have been a rearguard action anyway, and I have the impression that in its ‘renewed’ form, West Coast IPA today has taken a sip of the haze craze that happened afterwards, resulting in a somewhat more ‘mitigated’ form than the historical one. In that context, however, this one is closer to that original historic West Coast style than many other contemporary IPAs intended as West Coast. Have an extra point for that.

Dark lager by BBP, loosely intended as a Dunkel, but bizarrely fermented with a kveik yeast which is about the opposite of bottom fermenting – so I guess the ‘lager’ part here has more to do with lagering than with lager yeast (and should therefore not be taken literally); thanks to Craftmember for sharing at BBP’s original taproom in Brussels. Pale greyish off-white, medium thick, shred-lacing head, misty chestnut brown robe with amber-ruddy glow. Aroma of wet toast, roasted walnuts, hard caramel (without the sweetness), dry old tea bags, black radish peel, mace, very faint hint of Oxo sauce. Malty start, caramelly (again without the sweetness) and toasty-bitterish with a very thin toffee-like edge to it giving a bittersweet effect; leafy hoppiness, a bit tea-ish with side notes of bitter tree leaves, mace and nutmeg, tilts the balance towards bitterness in the end, with a long-lasting effect. Much more bitter (due to hops but also toasted malts) than your average Munich-style Dunkel – and again, a beer fermented with kveik, even if it has been lagered at near freezing temperatures for weeks after, can never truly be a lager for me.

Pastry stout by BBP and Basqueland apparently, flavoured with maple syrup, strawberry and Brussels waffles… From tap at the BBP taproom in the Rue Dansaert. Medium sized, dense, shred-lacing, pale greyish beige head on a pitch black beer. Aroma of strong liquorice above anything else, ‘Koetjesreep’, toffee, maple syrup, the pink and sugary strawberry filling in a strawberry-flavoured chocolate bar, bubblegum, caramel sauce, baked banana, Brazil nut, brown rum, fig jam. Sweet – with this strawberry filling sugariness returning, but no ‘real’ strawberry flavour at all; maple syrup adds an extra layer of syrupy sweetness over a bubblegummy onset with hints of figs and dates; medium carb, slick and near-syrupy mouthfeel, full, with toffee dominating along with aspects of raw chocolate cake dough and cashew nuts, but lacking in roasted bitterness. Instead this liquorice dominance returns, taking over from that artificial (and altogether proportionally subtle) strawberry; I guess one can say that a ‘waffle-like’ sweetness fills the finish, warmed by a rum-like alcohol glow. In spite of its premise, rather simplistic and too sweet for my tooth – but just imagine the endless possibilities if, like Brussels waffles (I already had a Liège waffles beer earlier this year too), all kinds of local sweets and desserts will be used as sources of inspiration for pastry stouts all over Europe…

Collab of BBP’s ‘Dansaert’ lambic project with A Tue Tête in Switzerland, apparently involving all the base Dansaert lambics, but I could not find how and in which proportions; in any case chili peppers have also been added here. From tap at BBP’s venue in the Rue Dansaert, Brussels. Open, thin, snow white, wafer-thin, dissolving ring of foam on ochre-tinged, hazy peach blonde beer. Aroma of white yoghurt, raw green bell pepper, crabapple, raw potato, cucumber, sourdough, pickled onions, lemon juice, raw rhubarb. Sharply sour onset, very ‘neig’ as they say traditionally in lambic land, very lemony – but not really vinegary, this is actually lactic acid (aided by other carboxylic acids I presume) at it sharpest, with impressions of lemon, wild apple, unripe green pear and unripe gooseberry, very softly carbonated from refermentation with supple cereally core; severely drying lactic-lemony sourness continues unabated further on, with some light woodiness appearing and indeed a relatively mild warmth of capsaicin mingling with the much harsher ‘burn’ of the acids. Retains a refreshing ‘green fruitiness’ all the way, but still I could not empty a whole bottle of this, this is just a tad too sharply acidic for its own good – though interestingly so and nowhere lacking in complexity.

One of BBP’s Dansaert lambic variants, this one aged in madera barrels; big thanks to David of Geus van Gent for sharing. Tiny-bubbled, wafer-thin, open, egg-white ring of foam on a hazy ochre-tinged peach blonde beer. Aroma of freshy cut green apple, grape skin and indeed something wine-like (more than actual madera in fact), old wood, wakame, dried lemon peel, old dry leather, whitecurrant, kefir, raw parsley root, bitter honey, grape seed oil. Tart, estery onset, white grape, gooseberry, green apple – but nowhere too sharply puckering, very softly carbonated from refermentation in the bottle, vinous mouthfeel; supple cereally base under softly but thoroughly drying lactic tartness, growing grape skin and tannic wood tanginess – with eventually indeed this vinous, fruity-sweet, non-lambic aspect, subtle but unmistakable and without a doubt linked to the madera barrel. Drying lactic and tannic astringency in the end still, with lingering sour-green fruitiness – but the madera element softens things a bit, bringing everything to a downright perfect balance. Beautifully done, too bad the brewing of lambic by BBP has apparently already ceased meanwhile…

pinkish ruby colour, pinkish head; aroma of beetroot, earthy, barnyard, mild balsamic acidy, slight peppery and fruity-red berries notes; taste has similar notes as can be felt in the aroma with beetroot dominance; interesting one