Bottle sample @ BXL BeerFest 2022.
Couleur cuivre sur un léger trouble, col fin blanc-cassé.
Arôme présente un nez assez belge et ce malgré l'usage d'une levure Kveik, fruits noirs et rouges, frais assez sec. L'usage par la brasserie d'amphores contribue à ce bouquet finement minéral. Rétro-nasal assez discret pourtant sur un apport de houblon Polaris dont le nez mentholé et pin est assez caractéristique.
Palais est finement malté - raisin avec ce caractère de moût, petite note de fruit rouge avec ce profil fermenté qui reste assez poussiéreux en fin de bouche. L'usage d'amphore continue à être la signature de cette brasserie où cela se ressent au niveau du palais - ici un effet minéral qui est repris par l'usage de levure kveik.

Bottle sample @ BXL BeerFest 2022.
Couleur pâle oscillant sur l'ambre, pas de col.
Arôme est frais, léger fruité sur une pointe de raisin, côté amphore est délicat, minéral.
Palais est plaisant finement funk surtout avec un apport des baies d'argousier - l'usage des amphores vient ajouter une fine minéralité. Le palais est assez faible et aide à propager ce côté aigrelet.

Golden colour with no head. Dry, floral and woody. Slightly acidic from the fruit. Then a dry finish.

Clear golden colour with no head. Subtle fruity notes, grape must, nicely woody and dry. Not too sharp, fairly mellow.

Clear red colour with no head. Complex with soft notes of red fruits. Quite grapey, winey. Touch of wood adds a drier element.

20/VIII/22 - 75cl bottle @ Gents Bierfestival, BB: n/a, 2020 edition (2022-1073)

Clear orange beer, practically no head. Aroma: nice, lots of brett notes, a little dirty, sourish, decent! MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: a bit sweet, oxidized, a bit sourish, oranges, fruity, a little bitter, good stuff! Aftertaste: very fruity, pretty acidic, acid burns in the throat maybe, super sour, dry finish, a little bitter, some tannins, very pleasant.

20/VIII/22 - 75cl bottle @ Gents Bierfestival, BB: n/a, 2020 version (2022-1064)

Clear orange beer, no head. Aroma: sourish, funky, a bit lemony, wood notes, fruity touch. MF: no carbon, medium body. Taste: dry, very acidic, bitter, bit metallic, orange peel, a bit dirty. Aftertaste: sourish, lemony, some alcohol, bitter finish, decent one!

Blend of sour ale (brewed by and at Heilig Hart) with must of natural Chardonnay wine, hopped with Mistral and aged in wooden barrels – one of several exciting ‘wild’ beers in Heilig Hart’s “Naam van de Heilige Geest” series. Big bottle from Geers, shared with Goedele. Medium thick, snow white, regularly shaped, moussy and stable head, misty peachy-orange blonde robe with vague brownish tinge (oxidation, perhaps), turning a tad darker in the end. Aroma of fermenting sour apples and grapes, quite some ‘freshly fermented farmland’ or even pigsty (manure) persisting throughout, old oxidized Chardonnay wine, soaking wet oak wood, unripe green plum, sour oranges, stale lemon juice even, goat cheese, sherry vinegar, sourdough. Crisply acidic onset, green apple, unripe gooseberry and green plum, but the sourness remains fruity without turning into vinegar; fizzy carbonation, nice bready malt core but very clearly soaked in wine must, adding extra tartness and sour grape effects. The drying aspect of this astringent fruity sourness is, in the end, enhanced by prominently tannic woodiness, creating a dry, vinous, astringent and tart ending with – and this is pleasantly surprising – a late but strong, unexpected, retronasal sherry aroma, adding a nice lacing of subtle nobility. The sour grape or must effects get the last word. Too bad for that persistent manure-like accent in the nose, but I am sure this is easily solved (perhaps even within the same batch with some cellaring of the bottles) and equally easily forgiven, considering the overall qualities of this beer-wine hybrid: it has originality, personality and allure, is cleverly designed and intelligently structured and a must (sic) for those into sour ales in general and wine-beer hybrids in particular. Another rewarding Heilig Hart sour – let’s hope this brewery does not attract the masses of hipsters turning it into a hype and making it impossible to obtain their products without having to wait in line and just be lucky, as is the case with several other contemporary sour beer producers throughout Flanders… You know which ones I am talking about.