7.3

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Honey and spice ale from the greater Valencia region in Spain, enjoyed at the restaurant of the Bois du Cazier former mining site, one of Wallonia's most enduring tourist attractions. Apparently created for the tenth anniversary of this brewery (strange that I never heard of it earlier than today). Snow white, medium thick, somewhat irregular, opening but generally well-retaining head, misty deep amber-hued 'dark blonde' peach colour. Aroma quite strongly dominated by rosemary (in between fresh and dried), overshadowing hints of halfripe peach, fresh apple peel, rusk, old biscuit cookies, thyme, honey (!), dry lemon zest, glazed carrots. Sharply carbonated onset, very stingy and minerally; sweetish fruitiness, dried peach, orange zest and red apple peel, with a notable, almost somewhat lactic sourish undertone. Peanutty, rusk-like 'amber' maltiness with a slight toasty-bitterish tail, combining phenolic spicy accents (clove, thyme) with this overwhelming retronasal rosemary effect, pierced by a flowery, mildly spicy honey aroma - yet none of the sweetness a layman would associate with honey, proving that actual (rosemary) honey was used here and has fermented out to a high degree. Hops add a further floral touch, but the rosemary remains very dominant here, in a 'herbalness' so strong that it becomes rosemary tea-like - and will no doubt put some consumers off. Being Belgian, I am quite used to strong doses of spices and herbs in ales as well as 'artisanal' honey beers and this one combines those two ancient elements in one; you will really have to love rosemary here, some people probably hate it, but I was quite pleasantly surprised considering where this comes from. There is way worse on the Spanish market (but obviously many significantly better beers as well...).

6.3

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Bouteille 33cl servie au Restaurant du chef étoilé Xavier Pellicer à Barcelone - pour mon annif.
Couleur dorée pâle, col épais blanc tenace.
Arôme est classique tout en restant basique - malté pâle et pils avec un apport léger salin en rétro-nasal. Pointe de houblon - noble, effet léger fleuri et fruité mais le tout reste sur un malté et fine amertume.
Palais est assez classique et joue fortement sur cet effet 'eau de mer', le côté salin est bien là - la base reste sur un approche plutôt maltée - pâle, caramel léger, petite note de pils. Amertume reste assez noble - fruité

Correcte mais sans tomber dans un style allemand - Gose.

7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle. Pours light hazed orange amber with a white cap. Aroma: herbal, honey, mildly fruity with pear and apple notes. Taste: moderate sweet with low bitterness, honey dominates, herbal and bittersweet on the finish. Medium body with moderate carbonation. Enjoyed this

5.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Bottle from Highland 4-29-15

5.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

33cl bottle. Sampled. Poured unclear golden in color with a white head. Grainy malts and some sweet fruits. Bland and not very interesting. Light bitterness.

3.1

Appearance - 2 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5

Marrón oscura casi negra. Nada de espuma Nada de stout. Aroma a caucho con notas terrosas. Aguada y ácida en boca, cualquier cosa menos una milk stout. Mala.

5.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5

Bottle. Deep brown with a short-lived beige head. Aroma is medicinal with herbal and toffee notes that sure enough are medium sherry-like. But then it's thin and very empty with just topical old caramel notes before a gentle lick of citrus at the end. One of those where I don't know whether they succeeded because I don't really understand what they were trying to do.

5

Interesting. Strange salty aspect to it

4.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5

Bottle at Ultracomida, Aberystwyth. Rusty gold colour, negligible head and a soft fizz. A gentle lager; a little buttery with a hint of sweetcorn. Quite watery. It's better than the worst of the macros but it's still substantially sub-optimal; certainly doesn't taste as craft as it makes itself out to be. Needs more hop bite, or failing that just more something. It's bland and dull.