Hazy blond colour white foam disappears quickly. Funk, wild yeast, tart, lactic sourness, vinous, light lemony. Tart and refreshing, not very complex but not bad.

Hazy red brown colour with thin head. Aroma and flavour have a woody dryness and some cork. Also some wild funky elements and red fruit sweetness.

Grape ale (the Italian way, so to speak) aged not on wooden barrels, but on stone amphoras, as Heilig Hart has been doing for a while now - a highly interesting premise indeed. Initially thick, moussy, pale beige head but opening and eventually dissolving completely, cloudy 'dirty' caramel brown robe with vaguely purplish tinge. Aroma of soggy brown bread, grape skins, fig, caramel, grape juice, old walnuts, minerals (the amphoras indeed!), very old Saint-Emilion wine, lots of blue and green plum, bitter herb tea, wormwood even, redcurrant, passionfruit, accents of green plants or fresh tree branches. Crisp, tart onset, lots of blackberry- and redcurrant-like fruit acidity from the added grapes, astringent grape skin tannins too but not too harshly so, sweetish core, fizzy carb, supple mouthfeel; the fruit sourness dries an inherently sweetish, fluffy bready and caramelly maltiness, but then things take an unexpected turn to the bitter side, with a long, herbal-bitter finish, no doubt a combination of grape skins, grape seeds and - first and foremost - the little branches of the grapes themselves, as apparently whole bunches of grapes were thrown in here. Lingering sour grape juiciness in the end too, alongside this thin line of minerality from the stone vessels it came from. Complex and interesting, but with a weird 'green plant bitterness' to it which I personally would have tried to avoid, as it stands in the way of the pure juiciness and fleshiness of the actual grapes. That said, as with e.g. (overhyped?) Antidoot, even the inclusion of a bitter plant-like element in what is essentially a kind of sour ale is easily forgiven considering the uniqueness and originality of the idea itself. Not the best of these new Heilig Hart sours for me, but still just as interesting as the other ones.

21 August 2021. At Gents Bierfestival. Cheers to Anke, Kevin, Jerre & the Ghent beer crew! Hazy red, no head. Aroma of sour apple, plum, redcurrant, leather, lemon peel, minerals, earth, wood. Taste has sour plum, red berries, lemon, apple; deeper layer of citrus, yoghurt & sour cream, bit wheaty too, some funky vinegar & leather, bready notes. Tart finish, fruity & lactic, somewhat salty-minerally, lingering citrus, plum, sour grape & tannins. Medium body, slick texture, soft to flat carbonation. Complex, structured and elegant.

Pale blond colour with light haze and massive foaming head. Aroma gives a hint of the spice yet to come. In the taste there's clove and coriander. Maybe some nutmeg or cinnamon too. Behind that there's a fresh zingy Saison. Somewhat ruined by the amount of sweet spice.

Bottle sample during Gents Bierfestival '21 - shared with Tderoeck and Nathan.
Ambre, pas de col.
Arôme marque un léger bouquet 'sourish', complété par d'agréables effluves fruitées surtout de fruits rouges et baies en rétro - l'usage de d'amphore en argile, un peu à la manière Cantillon (quoique, il semble avec plus de succès), donne un bouquet finement terreux au nez et repris de suite par le moût de raisin qui offre des effluves fruitées
Palais est léger sur les malts, caractère 'sour' persistant avec un fruité rouge dominant, effervescence est moyenne voire faible. Un caractère de 'grape beer' à l'italienne, qui met l'accent sur les divers assemblages pour obtenir cette bière. C’est frais, organique avec une petite minéralité venant de cette mise en 'foudre' d'argile pour utiliser un autre contenant.

Redbrown beer with hardly any head. Old wood, bit vinous, old wine, chocolate with fruit ganache. Human sweat, dried cherries, slightly lactic acid, again old wine notes. Light body, no carbonation. Rather sticky if nowhere cloying. Nice, but not in the same league as the Epiclese.

21/VIII/21 - 75cl bottle @ Gents Bierfestival (Gent), BB: n/a (2021-925)

Very cloudy dirty purple beer, no head. Aroma: very fruity, dirty, lots of yeast, funky, red wine, tannins, more yeast. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sourish start, fruity, good stuff, bitter, some tannins, nice. Aftertaste: lemony, sourish, bit fruity, yeasty, red wine, little metallic, a bit of a dirty finish.