Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
The Lupulus (or, formerly, Trois Fourquets - but who remembers that) contribution to this new Brewmance series of collabs initiated by d'Oude Maalderij, a project announced with quite some noise by the Belgian brewers guild and the media, because of the familiar names attached to it. This one is apparently a double dry-hopped IPA so one that particularly sparked my interest, knowing how well-versed Lupulus is with hops, in a 'classical' sense at least (nomen est omen, perhaps: 'lupulus' is the specific name of the hop plant). Thick and frothy, pale yellowish egg-white, dense and regular, creamy, shred-lacing head over a deeply hazed, apricot blonde beer with pale orangey glow and fine sparkling visible through the haze here and there; shifts to a more murky, ochre-tinged peach with sediment completely added. Quite luscious, 'summery' nose of orange blossom, ripe mandarin, peach, green melon, unripe mango, whipped cream, orange zest, bread crumbs, freshly cut grass, pear peel, honey, chamomile, hint of crumbling dry clay. Spritzy, moderately juicy onset, green mango and light guava mingled with peach, plantain and unripe melon, but most of these fruity effects seem derived from hops rather than esters and sweetness is cleverly avoided; lively effervescence, a tad stingy on the tongue for this style of beer perhaps, with strong minerally effects. Sleek, lean mouthfeel; soft soggy-bready and vaguely rusk-like malts under growing hoppiness of a bright, citrusy, peppery and even slightly tropical kind, adding unripe green mango again, as well as orange pith, moist white pepper and grapefruit zest - but somehow a tad less exuberantly than I was expecting based on a first sniff. Minerally effects from the carbonation continue well in the back, the hops add a leafy bitterness which lasts for quite a while and some bready and yeasty accents pop up here and there, though the whole remains altogether clean, as it ought to be in anything called 'IPA' (well, except Belgian IPA perhaps, but you get my drift). Alcohol remains all but completely hidden. In its genetic make-up, this is still a Belgian IPA as we know it, but admittedly the 'Belgian' aspect is rather limited here - I had other examples from all kinds of Belgian breweries with a lot more esters, phenols and so on - and there is, however vague, a certain NEIPA influence to be felt as well. Judging this will depend on your personal IPA criteria and your preferred IPA styles I guess (there are literally dozens by now), but technically speaking, this is a very decent Belgian IPA in my book, more sleek, focused and 'modern' than usual. Even more expressive hop aroma would have been a good thing, though - we are still not entering actual, original Anglo-Saxon IPA style territory here. But then the purpose of this whole series is to be 'classic', so that should not surprise anyone, I reckon. Note also that what is now called the Lupulus brewery, only originated in this century, so to Belgian standards this is perhaps not that classic - though of course there is the historical link with Achouffe, dating back to the early eighties. Well suited food for discussion, I suppose...
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
The follow-up to the Mash of the Titans series, in which Jef Pirens invited six microbrewers to come and brew their own variation on a barleywine in his Oude Maalderij kettles; this second series drew a lot more attention from local and social media than the first, probably because this time, larger and broadly established Belgian brewers were invited to brew at Oude Maalderij - not variations on a single theme this time, but each a very different beer. The idea was to draw them out of their comfort zone a bit, but with the exception of a porter brewed by Boon, I see no big surprises in terms of beer style choice at first sight... Anyway, let us see what all the fuss is about, and start this cold December night with something hopefully warming: an 'edelbier' or Belgian strong blonde executed by the country's oldest brewery, Het Anker in Mechelen. To underscore the idea of collaboration and connection between breweries which seem, at first glance, unlikely to collaborate, the crown caps are 'mashed' as well, because this Anker version carries a Boon crown cap - and quite a unique one, it seems, so doubtlessly the caps from this limited series (3000 sixpacks in total) alone are to become coveted items among crown cap collectors, more of which exist than one might think. Anyway, on to the beer: very thick and foamy, densely and very tightly 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, egg-white, regular and beaten egg-like, stable head, lightly misty warm 'old golden' robe with vague apricot tinge and tiny-bubbled but very active sparkling, sustaining the head; more hazed and almost faintly rosy-tinged with sediment, but looking good till the end. Aroma of ripe banana, dried peach, brioche bread, calvados, some unfortunate DMS (cooked green kale) pushing itself to the foreground, radish peel, old bread crust, sweetclover, dry earth, old cotton cloth, faint hint of candied orange or orange zest in the background. Fruity onset, sweetish but nowhere actually sweet, hints of green pear, halfripe banana and some apricot, through which an almost 'ferrous' and very minerally effect pierces, connected with enthusiastic though small-bubbled and in that sense non-stingy carbonation; rounded, full, somewhat creamy mouthfeel. White-bready and lightly bread-crusty malt body, with some dried yellow fruit carried onwards, further adorned with spicy phenols (clove, some vague parsley) - but also marred by that persisting DMS, returning retronasally. A whiff of orange briefly and dimly pops up at the back, but blink and you will miss it; a lovely warming calvados-like alcohol glow then connects the malts to the hops, which acquire an earthy, leafy character and last for quite a while, longer than expected in fact, travelling along with this soothing afterglow of alcohol and bready malts. Too bad for the DMS, but I am admittedly very sensitive to it and I cannot deny that structurally speaking, this is quite a solid tripel-ish Belgian blonde, though by no means innovative - in fact, this is not so far removed from Anker's own Lucifer (which they did buy from Riva when it went bankrupt); one is left wondering if Anker needed d'Oude Maalderij in the first place to create something as fundamentally twentieth-century as this... 'Classic', in style at least, seems to be the right word here indeed, no wonder this project caught so much more attention from the Belgian beer establishment than the first series. 'Conservative' could be another way to describe it.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
25/XI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, bottled: 30/I/21, BB: 30/I/24, BM MOTT 003 (2022-1691)
Clear copper orange beer, small creamy off-white head, unstable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: very yeasty, banana, weird, funky, malty, a bit chemical impression. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: spicy, bitter, herbal, pretty chemical, a bit dirty. Aftertaste: yeast, banana, malty, sugary, unpleasant bitterness.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
25/XI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, bottled: 10/II/21, BB: 10/II/24, BM MOTT 005 (2022-1690)
Clear deep orange beer, creamy off-white head, stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: malty start, grains, a bit sourish, yeasty, banana. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: a bit sweet, alcohol, bitter, lots of strawberry jam, hoppy, dried fruits, caramel, yeasty. Aftertaste: a bit sweet, hoppy, some caramel, a bit sourish, bitter hoppy finish.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
25/XI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, bottled: 10/I/21, BB: 10/I/24, BM MOTT 001 (2022-1688)
Clear red brown to dark amber beer, solid creamy beige head, stable, little adhesive. Aroma: nice, lots of chocolate notes, caramel, vanilla, a bit sugary impression, vanilla notes, dried fruits. MF: ok carbon, medium to full body. Taste: bitter start, quite some alcohol, a bit sourish, malty, soft roast, more malts, hoppy. Aftertaste: bitter and dry, spicy, earthy touch, some caramel, ripe banana, bitter, malty, hoppy, a bit oxidized, decent beer, nothing extraordinary though. Smells better than it tastes.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
25/XI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, BB: n/a (2022-1687)
Slightly cloudy dark amber beer, creamy dense beige head, little stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: lots of red wine, sourish impression, spicy, brett, wood notes, funky. MF: lively carbon, medium body. Taste: a bit sourish in the start, bitter, very spicy, herbal, earthy, smoky touch, more acidic, quite some tannins, red wine. Aftertaste: dry, spicy, earthy, sourish, tannins, red wine notes, wood, ok.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
25/XI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, bottled: 30/I/21, BB: 30/I/24, BM MOTT 004 (2022-1686)
Clear amber red brown beer, small aery irregular beige head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: soft roast, very yeasty, banana, lots of alcohol. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: bitter start, soft roast, sweet malts, a bit yeasty, caramel touch. Aftertaste: sweet and sugary, a hint of chocolate, alcohol, a bit malty, a hint of vanilla, caramel, more yeasty, very bitter finish.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
25/XI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, bottled: 10/II/21, BB: 10/II/24, BM MOTT 006 (2022-1684)
Clear dark amber beer, small creamy bit irregular beige head, unstable, little adhesive. Aroma: sweet impression, caramel, dried fruits, a bit fruity, little oxidized, earthy touch, some almonds, tonka notes on warming up. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: wow, very nice, all tonka beans up front, spicy, cinnamon, some chocolate notes, gingerbread. Aftertaste: dry, bitter, caramel, a little sweet, nice, lots and lots of tonka beans, bitter finish with a hint of chocolate, very nice beer!
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
25/XI/22 - 33cl bottle @ Mash of the Titans tasting, Gentse Biervereniging, bottled: 10/I/21, BB: 10/I/24, BM MOTT 002 (2022-1682)
Clear orange beer, small creamy off-white to light beige head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: malty, grains, a bit oxidized, honey, caramel, sweet impression. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: very bitter start, caramel sweetness, pretty chemical, unpleasant. Aftertaste: bitter, dry, malty, hoppy bitterness, band-aid, rather unpleasant. Don’t like it very much.
madmitch76 (40452) reviewed Lorelei #2 from D'Oude Maalderij 3 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
7th September 2022
Best before 2121? Maybe I should have left this one for 50 years? An heirloom? Love the confidence in the longevity of this brew - cracking! It's a hefty 14% barleywine aged in Gouden Carolus Whiskey Barrels for 22 months. Hazy amber brown beer, small and mayfly like pale tan head. Smooth palate, a trace of viscosity but the mouthfeel is quite light overall thanks to good fine carbonation. Smooth caramel malts, decent creamy sweetness. The 14% shows its teeth in the mid with some spice and on the finish with a gullet warming swallow. In between those 2 events is some nicely ripe fruity whiskey. Not a whiskey fan myself but if I was going to buy a bottle, this Belgo offering would be on my shortlist. An muscular and entertaining barleywine that warms the cockles. One to stock up on for the forthcoming energy crisis mayhap? It ain't goin off according to the brewers. By the time this goes off we should have nuclear fusion tech!!!