Alengrin (11609) reviewed The One 1 from The HOPportunity Beer Factory 8 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5
The first beer from a new beer company apparently run by a female brewer - yet another one apparently being granted the status of brewery here with just one single beer brewed elsewhere (Ellezelloise in this case). Comes from a skittle-shaped, stylish, trendy looking bottle, which usually serves primarily to artificially increase the price (see François Grand Cru and the like). An ominous hissing resounds during opening, with a bit of the foam trying to escape from the bottle, but the gushing as such remains manageable. Very thick and frothy yet regular, tightly 'papery' lacing, off-white, coarse head remaining largely stable over an immediately misty, ochre-hued straw blonde beer with warmer peachy tinge. Weird and not very inviting aroma of crisp fresh celery, freshly ironed shirts, dough, ripe Granny Smith apple, raw rhubarb, dog chamomile, banana, spoiled chervil soup, chalk, iron (especially obvious in the 'hand test'), damp straw, potato mash, pineapple juice somewhere, warm plastic, rotting cucumber and lettuce, chewing gum, vague touch of meringue. Hugely overcarbonated onset, painfully attacking the tongue and distracting all attention from the actual flavour, which in this case appears to be only faintly banana-sweetish at first with pineapple- and apricot-like accents, also briefly hinting at green apple acetaldehyde but soured by this sharp, minerally and stinging overcarbonation. White bread dough-like maltiness ensues, pale malt sweetishness in a sobre, cereally way, with some of the banana- and green apple-like impressions lingering; a chalky and soapy aspect soon appears at the sides and will be there until the last drop. Finish adds a very grassy, floral and peppery hop aspect, adding a long, resiny, eventually somewhat too harsh bitterness on the root of the tongue as well as dog camomile-like aromas retronasally - but the Cascade, alas, remains understated. Its sweet citrus-like capacities could have saved the day here, but the end result is an overcarbonated, artificially 'ironed', estery, chalky and frankly not all too pleasant Belgian ale in the 'edelbier' (read Duvel) style, of which a bit too many are already around; there is a crisp, almost 'crunchy' kind of celery-like greenness to the nose which I can kind of appreciate, but there are some off-flavours as well and this beer - if it wants to achieve its own goal of being a Wallonian alternative to Duvel, which is probably the deeply hidden idea behind it rather than being a saison per se - needs some cleaning up. Crude, a bit harsh even, not very refined and overpriced due to this fancy bottle - not the kind of beer we urgently need in Belgium these days.
Kraddel (15844) reviewed The One 1 from The HOPportunity Beer Factory 8 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4
Bottle. Special looking bottle that unfortunately drives the price up like crazy. not a fan, but hey, who am I to talk . Anyway. Minor gusher, Pours very unclear, hazy yellowblonde, bit muddy lookin, very big foamy white head that had a mediocer stability, leaving the drinker with only 1 cm of beer, full glass of foam, and a lot of patience required. Smell is sharp, intense grainy malts, bit of honey sweetness. harsh, some green apples, Taste is similar to all of the above. Doesn't feel completely right to me. Very overcarbonated as well. Bit off in terms of it being 'wrang' as we say in dutch ( still havent found a good english word for that ) Not good...