Fine, dense white head over pale well-carbonated yellow beer. Very nice, delicate nose with ginger and lavender-like aromas, and - of course - Sichuan pepper. Bit soapy flavour - again the Prickly ash upfront, but it remains in check. Bit ginger and resin flavours. Well-carbonated. At least medium bodied, bit viscous. Nice - if I would never call this a saison. Txs to Stef!

Gushing to huge, just yellowish head over heavily carbonated golden beer. Perfumey, demure blossoms, hint of honey. Grains, flowers, faintly smoked, exotic fruit. Very belatedly, there are finally some signs of capsaicine. Light body, overcarbonated. I'm happy it isn't overly chilli-ed, but unfortunately, there isn't much else to fill in. Txs to Stef!

Brussels IPA hopped with überclassic Simcoe, meanwhile also classic Idaho 7 and less classic Cryo Pop, in itself not a hop variety but a blend developed by Yakima Chief Hops, still the leading hop producer in the 'maternity home' of New World hops. Can from a Delhaize supermarket, canned in October last year so now five months old. Thick, frothy, egg-white, 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, firm and stable head sitting on a misty yellow-golden blonde robe with brass glow. Aroma of honey pomelo, dried mango, lime zest, some lychee, old polyester rug somehow, dry straw, perhaps even literal - but already a bit spoiled - 'witloof', old dry cereals. Rounded, sweetish onset, a bit spritzy, refreshing with notes of carambola and guava, touch of citrusiness (in a sweet way - honey pomelo again) too, supple pale malty core, a tad cereally in a slender way, strongly aromatised by the hops of course but not as deeply 'soaked' in them as I am used to from NEIPAs. The hops do provide citrusy zestiness, a weak retronasal oniony touch (Simcoe) and a very mild, somewhat 'sticky' end bitterishness which dries but does not 'spice', but I was expecting more tropical fruitiness from the Cryo Pop 'bomb', more oniony pungency from the Simcoe and even more zestiness from the Idaho 7. Very basic, even a bit underachieving for a NEIPA, but if you get the whole 'hazy IPA' idea out of your head (in spite of something similar explicitly being on the label), then this is not a bad beer by any means; it just does not do enough effort in aromatic juicy hoppiness to distinguish itself in a global ocean of hazy IPAs. On a local level, this performs fine, however - and frankly I think it is a very satisfying IPA when fresh from tap. This warrants a visit to this brewery I think - one I am not overly familiar with, in spite of knowing of its existence for several years. Benefit of the doubt for me.

22/I/26 - 33cl can from Delhaize Sterre (Gent), shared @ home, BB: X/2027, lot 0472 (2026-62)

Cloudy yellow blond beer, small creamy white head, a little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: lovely, very juicy, tropical fruits, some citrus, passion fruits, pineapple, very nice! MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: nice, gentle bitterness, pretty fruity, oranges, passion fruit, some ripe mango, a hint of canned peaches. Aftertaste: citrus, zesty, some oranges, a bit grassy, resinous hops, nice stuff, a little watery in the finish maybe.

Saison flavoured with the famed Chinese Sichuan pepper - not actually pepper botanically speaking, but a member of the rue family. Apparently this used to be a dark saison (still wondering what that may be to this day - but I digress) with a different hop combination, but the brewery seems to have decided to switch to a 'normal' blonde saison now - so thanks to tderoeck for, after establishing this, already preparing this new entry for me... Thick and frothy, off-white, irregular, uneven-bubbled, breaking head on a misty, ochre-tinged golden blonde robe. Aroma of unripe pear, grapefruit zest, dried lemon peel, pink peppercorns but in this case obviously representing the Sichuan pepper, spiced crackers, dried wild angelica, lemonbalm, curly dock leaf. Dryish onset with restrained but important fruity notes of hard pear, apple peel and unripe courgette, smooth cereally pale maltiness, medium carbonated with quite a lot of aromatic spiciness on top; the Sichuan pepper blends seamlessly with the citric aspect of the hops, even reinforces it into a colourful kind of zestiness, although the pure 'herbal' quality of said pepper remains fairly soft, as does the actual bitterness of the hops. The beer as a whole is however dry enough and does not need excessive hop bitterness: instead the Chinese 'pepper' has been applied in a beautifully balanced dosage, constructing a quenchingly spicy finish that is satisfying enough to make one forget that Sichuan pepper has as much to do with saison as any other exotic ingredient. Nothing exuberant happening here, just perfectly finetuned balance - and I appreciate that.

Small, fine white covering over hazy pale yellow beer. Citrus, exotic fruit, but also chalk and smelling a tad dusty. Again chalk, citrus and other faint fruity flavours. Rather sweetish, and not exactly a tastebomb. Light body, good carbonation, not much news in the aftertaste. Not very remarkable, too easy, too fade. Txs to Stef!

10/I/26 - 33cl can, shared @ home, BB: 12/2027, lot 0490 (2026-36) Thanks to Alengrin for sharing the can!

Cloudy beige to yellow blond beer, big irregular aery white head, unstable, falls down quickly. Aroma: lovely, lots of citrus, floral, tropical fruits, some szechuan pepper indeed. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: lots of citrus, fruity, hoppy, soft bitterness, a bit sweet impression, zesty, soft acidity. Aftertaste: fruity, citrus notes, almost sweet, orange peel, zesty, soft bitterness, some szechuan pepper, dry, ok but not great.