Cloudy pale yellow golden colour, small fizzy white head, mostly diminishing, no lacing. Light aroma, grain, lemon. Taste light sweet and citrusy sour, some bitterness, lemon, spicy notes. Light body, watery texture, flat carbonation, light sour-bitterish aftertaste, chalky notes, thirst quencing, light in every aspect, okay.

Bottle from Beer 52. Aroma is mainly roast malts with hints of chocolate. Pours a rich burgundy red with minimal beige head. In the mouth, not much to decipher at first – just the creamy fuzzy texture. Then that’s fades and you can discern chocolate, coffee and raspberries with traces of liquorice. Finish is fruity rather than bitter. It’s OK but seems to lack that vital spark.

At Beers and Barrels Utrecht. Unclear golden colooured. Slightly sour, fruity, easy going.

One of the driving forces behind the Dutch craft beer revolution of the past ten to fifteen years, Oedipus in northern Amsterdam (established in 2012), has been sold to Heineken in the meantime – and this is my first Oedipus beer since that takeover. Thanks to Craftmember for sharing. Papery lacing, mousy, yellowish pale beige, stable, dense head on a misty caramel-brown beer with ruddy-mahogany hue. Aroma of ground hazelnuts, burnt brown sugar, caramel, indeed a whiff of dry old Madeleine cookies, dried fig, almond, baked banana, nutmeg, apple peel, bayleaf. Sweetish onset, fig, raisin and medlar hints, medium carbonated; somewhat thinnish body for the style, but rounded, slick and smooth. Hard-caramelly and dry-cereally core with a thin brown bread edge from the yeast, ending with a phenolic, very herbal spiciness, tea-like almost, but remaining light in bitterness, while the caramel and dry cookie effect remains in place. Correctly made for a Dutch top-fermenting Bock, but frankly a bit boring, in contrast to the dozens of innovative beers they made in the past – I cannot help but wonder if Heineken does have a hand in this?

Moutig, karamel, wat chocolade, bittertje, iets zoet, smaakvol, ok spul

Keg @ Cellar Bar, Chester. Misty straw yellow, medium white head. Crisp dry grassy feel overall with some gentle tropical notes. OK. Went well with waiting 1.5hrs in Chester for the next train.

Pours a hazy pinkish colour and a small head with some retention. Aroma's of raspberry, sour, lactic. Retronasal it's sour and fruity. Flavour is sour, lactic. Light bodied.

330ml bottle consumed 4 months after bottling. Black pour with small white head, minimal retention. Aroma of semi-sweet malts, roastiness, chocolate, coffee. Taste also includes dark fruit notes and a tangy bitter finish. Nice smooth body and soft carbonation. Excellent stout.

0.375 l bottle from 'Het Biermoment', bottled in August 2019. Slightly hazy, pale yellow with a medium large, foamy, almost stable, white head. Slightly sweetish, gently funky, quite fruity-floral aroma of horse blanket, white pepper, wood, lemon peel and gooseberry. Rather dry, gently sour, quite funky and fruity taste of lemon peel, wood, gooseberry, wood and horse blanket, followed by a medium long, quite tart, woody-dry and gently funky finish. Thin to medium body, gently astringent, spritzy and quite effervescent mouthfeel, average carbonation. Highly refreshing, spritzy and quite complex beer. Another winner within the Studio series!