Imported from my RateBeer account as d'Oude Maalderij Homo Beerectus 03: Hop Hanker Sorachi Ace (by d'Oude Maalderij):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 4/5, Overall: 16/20, MyTotalScore: 3.9/5

7/VIII/17 - 33cl bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck (Vichte) @ home - BB: 30/IV/17 (2017-1180)

Clear orange beer, big solid creamy yellowish head, pretty stable, non adhesive. Aroma: pretty fruity, lychee, kiwi, pretty floral, some goose berries, bit of citrus. MF: soft carbon, medium body, creamy texture. Taste: bit sweet, pretty fruity, bit funky, nice yet very gentle bitterness, sweet malts, some banana peel, caramel. Aftertaste: more floral notes, soapy bitterness, some berries, bit smoky even, malty, banana peel, some alcohol, sweet touch, bit resinous, bitter and dry finish, very interesting to have a (Belgian) Single Hop Sorachi Ace! Looking forward to the other 5 hops!

Belgian IPA by Jef Pirens. From a 33 cl steini bottle bought at Bierhalle Deconinck, with a nicely glossy label depicting a somewhat childish cartoon. Medium thick, irregular, egg-white head, moussy rim but breaking quickly in the middle; hazy peach blonde colour with warm, deep orange hue. Aroma of apricot, moldy oranges, some stale ’old hops urine’, wormwood leaves, soggy white bread, moist peanuts, banana peel, apricot, white pepper, green olives, bitter garden herbs, a hint of pine resin, rainwater, cooked turnips, ’witloof’, withering salad leaves. Fruity, soft onset, hinting at peach, a bit of banana and some pineapple, restrainedly sweet with a dim sourish touch, soft carbonation, slick and somewhat thin, if not slightly watery mouthfeel. Lightly bready and bit cereally, thinly caramelly malt base, lingering dried fruit hints, working towards a growing hop bitterness with a softly spicy, leafy and floral character, adding herbal (wormwood and other bitter plants) accents retronasally and clinging to the root of the tongue without becoming harshly bittering. Quite nice actually, indeed a ’hopped up’ Belgian blonde but more IPA-like than many other attempts at the same concept; just a bit thin perhaps, undercarbonated even for this style, but purely flavour-wise this ticks all the boxes for me. Not too much ’Belgian yeast interference’ and good balance between maltiness and bitter hoppiness, without the very expressive aromas from New World hops so feeling ’noble’ and classic while still being modern. I’m really beginning to like Oude Maalderij’s current brews - maybe I will one day forget the many misfits made by Gaverhopke...

New tripel by Jef Pirens made with galanga (an Asian herb used for its roots, related to ginger) and ’piments d’espelette’ (French peppers). Bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck. Thick and frothy, snow white, densely moussy, stable head, slowly opening in the middle, over an initially as good as clear, warm amberish orange blonde beer, turning into a deeply but equally hazy, deeper orange with sediment. Aroma unsurprisingly dominated by the galanga root, with an earthy, very perfumey, soapy and ginger-like effect; other impressions include sweet paprika powder (which I assume is established by the dried peppers), apricot, peanuts, raw potato, lightly toasted bread, gin and pear, but are not easy to detect under this truckload of galanga spiciness, which covers everything like a thick blanket. ’Cleanly fruity’ onset, sweet impressions of banana, red apple and peach, with sourish side notes; medium carbonation, slick and smooth, bit resiny mouthfeel. The slickness is further accentuated by this soapy, ginger-like, dryish and perfumey galanga, weighing heavily on a caramelly, slightly bready malt sweetish backbone; it stretches all the way to the finish, providing an earthy, soapy, ethereal spiciness in which even the subtle smokiness of the peppers is almost lost (though not entirely). Spicy yet subtle hop bitter note in the finish, but it too gets lost under the galanga; caramelly and residual ’white’ sugary sweetness lingers, followed by something thinly glueish and a very light sourish note. Another overly sweet-and-spicy Belgian, this one being more up to date in using fancy Asian cuisine spicing, like e.g. Oedipus’ Thai Thai in the Netherlands, but in an all but subtle way. I am not the biggest fan of adding spices and herbs to beer just to ’pimp’ them, I suppose I had too many overcoriandered and otherwise needlessly spicy ales in the past, and this is certainly not my beer. This is a one-trick pony, lacking depth, body and complexity, though admittedly there are no brewing errors or serious off-flavours here. May perform better with an Asian dish next to it - and I might even attempt this, but not pleasant to drink just by itself, because of this heavy galanga overload. Interesting idea, though.

330 ml. Bottle @ Beerlovers Bar. Bottled 30-04-2017. Special made cap, cool. 3rd entry into the 30 beer series whose overall concept still confuses me a bit. Apparently this is the start of a 6 beer single hop series within the series. Conceptually this reminds me of the mess that the “Teargarden by Kaleidyscope” project by The Smashing Pumpkins became. First time that I hear of Belgian Sorachi Ace hop, this is apparently also the first time that it was grown in Belgium. Deep hazy orange, uneven collapsing white head. Nose is mellow orange peel & peel, very un-Sorachi Ace-like, malt base is quite big for what it is plenty of caramel malt base. Taste is quite malt base forward, big caramel, dough, bread, toffee, finish is hop which is weirdly medicinal & green, Sorachi Ace is all weird, medicinal, floral green & not that big in profile. Body is malty, caramel, low medicinal, faintly milky yeast. The base is good & this is very clearly the best beer so far in the series but the hop is rather odd & Sorachi Ace is my favourite hop, could use more hop & maybe bit less weirdness. Bottle uses the tuned town appearance of Sorachi Ace as a selling point given people’s difficult relationship with this hop variety.

Bottle at beerlovers bar. Pours darker, unclear blonde. Smell is intense sorachi (yoghurt, milky, peach ) taste is more balanced. Decent bitterness, creamy, hoppy, sorachi. Better than expected from the scent.

The third Homo Beerectus, a series that will encompass thirty beers in total, this one a Belgian IPA single-hopped with Sorachi Ace, the high profile hop variety developed by Sapporo in 1984, widely acclaimed for its unique character. The whole project is detailed on their website, involving a rather mysterious and confusing story about this Homo Beerectus concept - a story I’m not going to bother reading anymore. Thick, regularly shaped, egg-white head, settling in a dense moussy rim and a pattern of flat islands in the middle, crowning a hazy, bright peach blonde beer with deep orange hue. Aroma of dried orange peel, kumquat, warm cake, dried dill as is typical for Sorachi Ace but also dried basil, banana, pineapple, lightly toasted white bread, crushed pink peppercorns, watermelon, baking powder, horseradish, old ginger powder, grapefruit zest, straw, cloves, hints of meringue, strawberry and tonic water. Mellow, juicy onset, softish carbonation (perhaps even a bit undercarbonated), restrained fruity esters with hints of apricot, pear, melon and some green banana, smooth and slick mouthfeel. Lightly biscuity and cereally, supple malt body with a thin edge of toasted bread, on which the mild fruity tones surf towards an elegantly drying finish, where the Sorachi Ace features shine more brightly than I was expecting, though still ’interfered’ by some yeasty phenols; I do, however, get retronasal impressions of withering dill and citrus peel, even something vaguely lychee-like. ’Cleanly earthy’, spicy, bit dusty and rooty, even somewhat ’glueish’ bitterness at the back of the mouth, but nothing overly harsh as is often the case in ’Belgian IPAs’ gone too far in their hop-forward enthusiasm; remains juicy, elegant and fruity, with a powdery yeast feel to it especially after the sediment has been added. Considering the two previous beers in this series, I must honestly admit that my expectations for this were not too high and I can already hear more internationally oriented hopheads remark that the Sorachi Ace could have been applied even more ’cleanly’ and expressively, but its unmistakable properties are there, and the esteriness has been kept sufficiently at bay so as not to interfere with it too much. Still yeasty enough to be called a ’Belgian IPA’ rather than a true ’international IPA’, that much is very clear, but within that segment, this is well among the best examples I had so far, as well as being the best Oude Maalderij beer so far in my humble opinion. Very elegant one Jef, cheers!

Gusher allert. Pours pinkish red, white head. Smell is earthy, hibiscus, Taste is full, bit sweet (only a touch ) hibiscus. Mild earthy , coocked vegetable notes. Bit low on mf, high on carbo.