Warm and strong Belgian dubbel, the warm alcool is present, malty side a side of plum and autumnal spices, hop, to drink quietly. Buying it at qoqa and tasting it at Epalinges.

One of several of these Brió beers by one of Iceland’s best known craft brewers, a Pilsener this time – thanks to my girlfriend Goedele for bringing the can straight from Iceland! Thick and frothy, snow white, foamy head lacing in dots over a clear ‘old golden’-tinged blonde robe, a tad ‘deeper’ than usual for the style. Aroma of raw green cereals, wall barley, raw Kohlrabi, young birch tree leaves, cucumber peel, field flowers, something distantly sulfuric. Clean, crisp onset, quite sharply carbonated even for the style, some vague green apple peel and hard unripe banana accents over a ‘raw’ green cereal flavour even with elements of raw green vegetable (raw Kohlrabi or broccoli stalks) announcing a long, drying, floral and grassy hop bitterness, through which that vague sulfuric accent pierces briefly – no doubt a feature coming from the brewing water, as the geothermal activity in Iceland quite notoriously lends their tap water a sulfuric odour especially when heated. It does not get any more Icelandic than this – have an extra point for this ‘terroir’ element subtly setting it apart from what I am used to in craft-oriented Pilsener, regardless of this being actually a pleasant odour or not...

Bottle from Gulating, Brennåsen. Unclear pale golden with a big but fast dispersing white head. Aroma is floral, hay, slightly acidic tea and hint of lemon. Complex but a bit weird. Flavor is really refreshing, mild fruit, quite acidic, flowers, bitter tea and minerals. Light bodied and refreshing acidic aftertaste. Original and very refreshing, not extremely nice but definitively something I could have again.

Bottle @ Patricks. Chrystal clear deep amber golden body with a nice, medium sized, dense off-white head. Really beautiful looking. Aroma has a really strong scent of caramel, candy sugar, rye bread and dry fruit with hint of warming alcohol. Flavor is really sweet caramel malt, dry fruit, candy sugar, low bitterness and vinous alcohol. Nice body and long lasting, pretty sweet aftertaste. Basically way too sweet like many Belgium beers in this style, but somehow they seems to make some kind of balance when drinking (and not just tasting) this beers. This is party valid for this beer as well, too sweet but starting to enjoy it getting closer to the bottom of the bottle – still a bit too sweet and to much caramel.

Bottle. Slightly unclear golden body with a decent, lacing white head. Aroma has pale malt, fruity hops, peaches and a hint of honey. Flavor is sweet, malty with some of this kind of harsh sweetness that fermented honey can give, fruity en general and decent bitterness. Medium body and average, sweet and bitter aftertaste – perhaps a bit on the sweeter side. Decent.

8/III/25 - 33cl can @ home, BB: 11/IX/25, canned: 11/XII/24, 023792 (2025-261) Thanks to Alengrin for sharing the can

Clear light gold blond beer, small creamy and slightly irregular white head, unstable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: very malty, raw grains, a hint of sulphur, a bit grassy. MF: soft carbon, medium to light body. Taste: gentle bitterness, a bit grassy, malty, raw grains, soft acidity, dry, ok. Aftertaste: malty, grains, a bit sweet, a little oxidized, soft acidity, pretty bitter, watery, a little metallic in the finish.