On tap at Bierlokaal de Uiver. Black colour, thin beige head. Aroma of dung, roasted malts, tobacco, brown malts, some peat/iodine, doesn’t smell great tbh. Flavour is medium sweet, roasted malts, hint of peat, liquorice, some candy sweetness, quite dry, tobacco, bitter finish. Medium bodied. Could’ve been so much more.

Amsterdam saison (or, to concisely explain the concept to Anglo-Saxons: ’farmhouse ale’), from a bottle bought at the Mitra shop of Lelystad. Thick and densely moussy but regularly shaped, egg-white head, very stable and remaining closed for a long time, over a hazy warm amber coloured beer with salmon pinkish tinge. Aroma of fresh orange peel (clearly the Cascade), straw, unripe peach, lightly toasted bread, peanuts, lemon orchard, jute, unsugared muesli, dry leaves, red apple, raw turnip, sweetish field flowers, hints of nectarine, sourdough, honey, redcurrant, old cookies. Mildly estery onset, juicy fruitiness of peach, some pineapple and dried banana sweetishness with a souring, gooseberry-like edge, medium carbonated, minerally aspects, smooth and supple, lean mouthfeel, creamy due to the oats, bit resinous too. Caramelly and even lightly honeyish malt sweetness in the middle with ongoing fruitiness on top, deeper sourish grainy note of spelt but subtly so, dryish towards the finish with more and more phenols (old cloves - luckily no medicinal or chemical side effects), some bready yeastiness but subduedly so, minerally side flavors and a drying, softly bittering, dried citrus peel-like hoppiness with floral and spicy aspects to it; after all this, a glow of warming, whisky-ish alcohol lights up, but only to accentuate the flavors rather than pulling them apart with wryness. Elegant and ’clean’ interpretation of the style, technically completely flawless (which always scores high in my book) but lacking a bit in ’rural roughness’, attenuation and hayish or floral hoppy character to qualify as a true, authentic saison - which it clearly isn’t. I guess the aim was to imitate modern American farmhouse ale (which is often far removed from what I as a Belgian see as ’saison’) but, more than anything, I actually find its cleanness, creaminess and relative sweetness very reminiscent of French bière de garde, hadn’t it been for the New World hop kiss. Whatever: this is an enjoyable and well-made ale for sure.

Very good, dense yellowish head over virtually clear golden beer; shards of lace. Creamy nose with modest, fruity and fragrant hops, nectarine, lunaria. Fresh, leafy, green hops with lots of citrus and other exotic fruit. Light-resiny bitterness, held firmly in check. Quite good balance, for once! Light body; medium to good carbonation, creamy feel from the head. Ah, now here they managed something more than decent. Oh, and BTW, they say it’s an IPA. ON the bottle...

Towering, dense & fine yellow-cream head over clear golden-orange beer. Creamy nose, herbal, vanilla, exotic fruit, preserved orangepeel - sweet... and Bourbon-like? Very bitter head, resiny beer; Again a very serious dash of vanilla. Sweetish under the bitter resinload, caramel, laurel/bay leaf. Part of the bitterness is also as if chewing on bayleaf - or dill. Creamy feel from the head, very slick to oly, medium bodied. Unbalanced! And as to a vanilla IIPA?

Bottle at Gekke Geit. Hazy golden with small white head. Soft citrus, crisp malts, light caramel, soft peach, dried pineapple. Light sweet and medium bitter. Medium bodied with a bit fizzy carbonation. Very drinkeable.

Good dense, light-cream head, fed by fine carbonation in faintly hazy orange-amber beer. Citrus, yeast, esters, bit of fatty acids even, banana. Same impression in the flavour. Fusels, yeast byproducts; bit spicy, sharpish. Light sourness, again fatty acid-likd. Bit caramel, certainly warming up. Bit of oxydation too. Medium bodied, good carbonation, slick to oily feel. "Farmhouse ald". Which is pretty much as saying "anything". Which is a good description of this beer.

12th January 2017
T42 Bottleshare. Clear deep amber beer, small pale tan head. Palate is smooth and semi dry. decent fine carbonation. Smooth malts, light cream. Mellow dark chocolate. Mild pine and reasonable hop fruits. Light semi dry finish. Mellow but quite drinkable.

Bottle shared in London - cheers to Kenneth. Pours clear gold-brown with a frothy, off-white head. The nose has toasted brown bread, grapefruit pith. Light sweet flavour with faint minerality, cocoa, orange rind, more brown bread. Light bodied with average carbonation. Alright balance in the finish, a bit restrained, some further pithy notes. Enjoyable if a little basic.