Boon's participation in this ambitious series of collaborational brews, executed at and on the initiative of d'Oude Maalderij; after a similar series of collabs with 'true' craft brewers (Mash of the Titans), Jef Pirens considered it a good idea to put some of the more traditionally oriented Belgian breweries in the spotlights, whilst trying to draw them a bit "out of their comfort zone". So far I have not really encountered anything in this series that would make the participating brewery truly uncomfortable, but a porter brewed by (I assume Karel) Boon is something different, and conceptually speaking the most appealing beer in this series to me. Comes with a crown cap of Lupulus - apparently d'Oude Maalderij deliberately tried to mix all six breweries up by randomly capping the bottles, so that one bottle can have a crown cap of a totally different brewery, and so on - you get the idea. Thick and frothy, membrane-lacing, dense and firm, pale beige, creamy and stable head, misty dark chocolate brown robe - approaching black but not quite, with a reddish burgundy glow still visible around the edges. Aroma of coffee grounds, pine resin, burnt wood, roasted pecan nuts, dry leather, unsugared black chocolate, charred toast, cigar ashes, dried blackberries, dried thyme, salmiak, nutmeg, dry earth, spring water, black olive, autumn leaves, charcoal, green apple piercing through. Moderately fruity onset, sweetish but very restrainedly so and relatively 'clean', with only some faint hints of dried blackcurrant, green pear and dried apple peel, surrounded by a thin but meaningful, black olive-like layer of 'friendly' umami, fitting in well; active carbonation adding minerally effects, smooth hard-caramelly and brown-bready core losing all the sweetness if ever there was any, especially when a strong toastiness sets in, quickly moving into full-blown roasted chicory-like bitterness, with a sourish edge from roasted grains. This roasty bitterness fills the mouth, creating overall dryness, but a bit later, a strong, leafy, almost piney and wormwoody hop bitterness invades, strongly amplifying the roasted bitter component (which at this point has acquired near-ashy side impressions). A very long, dry, thoroughly bitter finish ensues, with both the roastiness and the hoppiness remaining strong, overpowering mildly earthy yeasty elements and whatever 'dark' fruitiness was left at this point. Very powerful, packed with dryness, bitterness, roastiness and maltiness, with an unusually high hop dosage for a porter: if the hops were any more aromatic and New World-oriented, this would easily have qualified as a black IPA rather than a porter. Hoppy porter - or dry stout if you will, because at this point there really is no difference, and no point arguing about it either - unless you draw the old history card, of course. I expected something milder and more 'rounded' from a beer labelled as a porter - call this a stout and you will be fine, but as I have said hundreds of times before in all those years of beer reviewing, porter and stout really are a continuum so it makes little sense discussing this at all. Whether porter, stout or even 'European style' black IPA: this is one feisty little beer, packing a lot of flavour at its ABV, but I expect the 'die hard' beer geeks to find it too earthy and ashy. As an elderly beer lover and missing these old school stouts and porters from time to time, I must admit that I liked it quite a lot, so far this is decidedly the best of these Mash of the Classics for me - and a compliment to Boon for, as it were, translating the power of lambic into a beer they themselves would never even consider to make. I do not expect Boon to set up a line of top-fermented porters or stouts any time soon, but one thing is for certain: the most anticipated beer of this pack (for me) does not disappoint.

Oude Maalderij started this new series of collabs with the intention of pulling some of the more traditionally oriented Belgian breweries out of their comfort zone - let us see if that idea applies to de la Senne too, a 'modern classic' and quite unique in its approach to Belgian traditions. This one is presented as a saison, fermented with a kveik yeast strain - which in itself does not really sound as something Senne would not do themselves, actually... Thick and foamy, egg-white, dense and creamy, pillowy, stable, membrane-lacing head, initially clear 'old golden' robe with a few strings of sparkling rushing upwards in the middle, turning misty and somewhat more apricot-hued with sediment. Aroma of overripe plum, manure (strong initially!), rotting pineapple, pear, soggy white bread, stale urine, rotting eggs (H2S), green apple juice, grass. Crisp onset, sharp and fizzy carbonation, very minerally; fruity with notes of green apple, unripe banana, pear and peach, but rather subdued in sweetness. Slick mouthfeel, fuller than expected at this strength; cereally and thinly white-bready malts with a touch of fruity sweetness on top, pear- and a bit pineapple-like, but also with a dim yet important sourish touch beneath. That awful manure scent does not return too strongly, fortunately; instead a vaguely citric, floral and grassy hop bitterness comes along, lingering for quite a while in an earthy, leafy manner. Traces of yellow-green fruitiness linger along. If it were not for that off-putting smell of manure, this could have been a fine grisette style beer, with the right amount of dryness, bitterness and body - but that smell remains so prevalent that I just could not get past it. Sorry guys, I have liked almost everything Senne did so far, but this one smells so unattractive that it cannot have been the intention. A pity, because as said, purely structurally this is not a bad beer at all.

One in a second series of Brewmance beers, collabs of Oude Maalderij with other breweries, in this series breweries apparently considered 'classic' - which seems to have to do more with stylistic reasons than historical ones, considering Het Nest, the collaborating brewery in this one, was only founded in 2007. Apparently intended as a strong(ish) 'spéciale belge' (an old term for Belgian style amber ale) but dry-hopped; throw a wild yeast strain into this mash and you end up with something close to Orval, I reckon... Thick and frothy, egg-white, dense and creamy, tiny-bubbled, stable head with fringed edges; clear deep copper-glowing pure amber, more amber really than most of the 'real' spéciales belges, a beautiful sight I must say (I have a weak spot for this shade of beer colour), with some disparate tiny bubbles here and there and turning misty and somewhat brownish-tinged with sediment. Aroma of soggy grey bread, damp earth, wet autumn leaves, tea, something broccoli-like, raw sugar beet, old peanuts, hints of dried orange peel, nutmeg and - oddly and tucked away in the background - 'speculoos' or other cookies. Dryish onset, restrained in sweetness but still hinting at red apple, pear, medlar and vague apricot, light sourish touch, softish carbonation with rounded, slightly creamy mouthfeel; typical amber-malty backbone, peanutty, bread-crusty and a bit cookie-like but low in sweetness, with a toasty bitter edge that grows stronger towards the end, when it becomes reinforced by leafy, earthy hops (wet fallen tree leaves again, old tea, dandelion). Spicy phenols (clove, nutmeg, thyme) abound, interfering a bit with the hops - but that said, the hops do not provide a lot of exuberant aroma anyway, maintaining an old European 'noble' character of leaves, grass and herbs. Powdery yeastiness in the end further enhances a very earthy finish, luckily avoiding unpleasant 'dirtiness' though, so that malts, hops and phenols get the last word. Stronger, yeastier, maltier, spicier and much more earthy than the classic 'spéciale belge', this whole beer reminds me very strongly of an old school Walloon 'ambrée' (which is not entirely the same thing as a spéciale belge in my book). 'Classic' in style indeed, but not bad.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.