5.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 8
Texture 4
Overall 6.5
The newest Homo Beerectus by Jef Pirens (missed the previous one apparently), a second variation on the 'Hop Hanker' theme, now with Marynka hops, a variety developed in Poland in 1988 from Brewer's Gold - to my knowledge, at least in an 'advertised' way, a first for Belgium. Moussy, bit irregular, medium sized, slowly dissipating, egg-white head over a deep, warm pale orange blonde beer with 'old gold' hue, lightly hazy. Aroma of strong dried citrus peel (old orange peel) but equally strong, if not stronger, very unpleasant H2S (rotten vegetables, rotting potato, sewer water), over subtler notes of sweetbread, camomile, dried basil, pond water, ripe apricot, white bread, candy apple, honey, mandarin, dirty kitchen cloth, white pepper. Sweet onset with sourish edge, fruity with notes of canned pineapple, red apple and pear, dash of banana as well, softly carbonated (bit too softly for this type of beer actually), very slick, smooth body. Cereally malt sweetness, a bit like the sweetness of a standard pale lager but fuller, rounder and sweeter, until a firm, earthy, herbal and notably floral (sweetclover, white dead-nettle) hop bitterness penetrates it, drying the finish, yet still remaining gentle and mildly spicy so that the malt sweetness and fruitiness emerges victorious; meanwhile a weird metallicness unfolds as well, while that awful H2S aspect returns retronasally. A slightly starchy, bready yeast effect lingers amidst the hop bitterness. Get rid of that metallic aspect and, more than anything, that rotten effect in the nose, Jef, and you'll have another winner like the first Hop Hanker. In this form, however, this is not very agreeable to drink, I'm afraid...
Tried
from Can
on 06 Jul 2018
at 22:28