Shared bottle at RB/HD on board Fridtjofen 28.06.19. Slightly translucent black. No head. Aroma and taste of sweet dark malt, molasses, dark berries, solvents, bark and cigar box. Flat.

Bottle at home. Clear golden color with a decent sized white head. Smell and taste malts, a bit sweet, light overripe fruit notes, apricot jam, a bit dusty in the aroma. Body is medium, carbonation soft to average. Hmm ok. 6-3-6-3-13.

Imported from my RateBeer account as d'Oude Maalderij The Mash (by d'Oude Maalderij):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 5/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 10/20, MyTotalScore: 2.8/5

10/VI/19 - 33cl bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck (Vichte), shared @ home, BB: 1/IV/19 - (2019-844)
Clear orange beer, big creamy white head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: little floral, fruity, some sulphur, apples, little dirty, bit malty, spicy. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bitter start, fruity, some sulphur, little dirty, spicy bitterness, rather unpleasant. Aftertaste: bitter, bit grassy, spicy, little metallic, unpleasant bitterness, some kardamom.

Brand new session beer bij d'Oude Maalderij, first batch (MASH001), bottled on April 1st, 2019 - but no April Fool's trick and a very seriously intended 'pale lager replacement' beer celebrating the new name of the brewery's café, which is indeed called The Mash since it started serving - classically Flemish themed - food. Medium thick, regular, egg-white, only very lightly lacing but creamy and stable, closed head fed by strong and swirling sparkling underneath, raging through a beautifully pure and initially clear, 'old gold'-hued beer, shifting to a misty, slightly deeper apricot blonde with sediment. Aroma of banana mush and even banana milkshake, cooked pear, bread crust, raw potato, straw, iron shavings, brown soap, cranesbill leaves, grass, bubblegum, background DMS note (overcooked cauliflower), wet clay, tulips, something chlorine-like (swimming pool). Cleanly fruity onset, banana ester as expected based on the nose but somewhat less dominating than feared, still a bit bubblegummy with side notes of young apple and halfripe pear, restrainedly sweetish, medium carbonation with minerally side flavours, soft and fluffy mouthfeel, bready and cereally malt body with sharpish grainy sides but a soft doughy 'core', bittered by a leafy, grassy and floral hoppiness that lingers quite long at the back, in a noble, slightly quinine-like way; some end soapiness, minerally touches and soft lingering breadiness too, along with that trace of banana ester. Retronasally, the hops produce nice 'mown lawn' and bitter field herb impressions. Too bad for that hint at DMS, something Oude Maalderij often suffers from and something I am overly sensitive to, but otherwise this is a fine 'bitter blonde', drying, elegant and soft, while very quenching as well. If the cuisine served at The Mash (I have yet to visit the place in its new shape and form) is indeed inspired by what was commonly served in Flanders in, say, the mid-twentieth century, then this surely is a good companion to those rather unassuming flavours dominated by cooked potatoes and cooked vegetables, I presume. Serves its purpose well, no doubt.

The ninth one in this ambitious series, strangely not intended for wider commercialisation and only sold (to my knowledge at least) by Kevin Devos' Beer Shop in Kontich, as the brewer judged it unfitting for the series - making me wonder if he will replace it by an improved version or not. Bottled in September last year. Off-white, tiny, loose bubbles form around the edge of the glass during pouring, but they just fizz away immediately into absolutely nothing (perhaps this was the problem that prompted Jef not to sell it any further); misty apricot blonde robe with pale orangey hue, still with a central 'whirl' of fizz coming from below in spite of the lack of head formation; shifts to a homemade pear juice-like, 'dirty' peach blonde murkiness in the end. Sweet and gently smoked aroma of ripe melon, papaja even, candied pineapple, vanilla custard, sweetbread, freshly cut grass, smoked bacon in between, dry cinnamon cookies, something interestingly meaty (fried ham), stewed pear, yellow kiwi, dry apple cake, vague touch of phenolic rubber. Sweetish onset - though less sweet than expected based on aroma, with a sourish edge, very fruity but in a well-ordered manner, hinting at mango, ripe pear, peach and some banana, low carbonation but still with some prickly, small bubbles; there is a clear smoked bacon effect pointing at Rauchmalz, adding a meaty umami accent to this fruity sweetness. Supple, lean mouthfeel, sweetbready maltiness with a sharper grainy edge, fruitiness continuing well into the finish where the smoky factor becomes more prominent; ends dry and a bit powdery, with a deeply situated but clear leafy hop bitterishness to it. The smoky aspect goes on beyond that, and so does the fruitiness, but a rather astringent, weirdly rubbery aspect makes its appearance as well - demonstrating that something indeed must have gone wrong with fermentation. Many of these Homo Beerectus beers were a bit unusual, but this one is surely among the most bizarre so far: it combines a luscious, almost tropical sweet fruitiness with an emphatic smoky aspect, as if smoked fruit of some kind has been used, like Alvinne sometimes does in their sours - though the label does not mention this. Granted, this beer looks awful and flawed and there are some very subtle off-flavours, and I can only assume this is the reason the brewer wanted to halt further distribution of it, but in terms of pure flavour, this is a very fascinating brew, almost a liquid equivalent of ham-wrapped melon. I must admit that I like the general flavour profile quite a lot, too bad this won't get more exposure as it certainly is among the more challenging, but also more 'artistic' members of the Homo Beerectus family tree. Weird and admittedly a true eyesore in the end, but fix the latter issue and you have a very remarkable beer here, Jef! As for rating this: far from evident, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and pretend I didn't notice the total lack of head retention and soupy appearance.

Dark brown colour, creamy beige foam. Nose of speculaaskruiden, roasted malts, caramel, liquorice. Very spicy, not very roasty. Not really a stout but more a very spicy quadrupel.

Golden beer, white foam. Dirty, lemony and tart along with some citrussy notes. Not very well balanced, a bit messy.