Alengrin
Ghent, Belgium 🇧🇪 MemberOptions
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Alengrin (11561) reviewed Brew 4000 from Fremont Brewing Company 1 week ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9.5
The 4000th brew by this celebrated Seattle brewery - which calls for a special one, as was the case with the 1000th, 2000th and 3000th brews as well. Cheers to Martijn for sharing this gem at Proevertjesdag. Tiny-bubbled, open yet stable, yellow-beige head on a clear deep bronze robe with copper-red glow, a tad darker than average for any kind of barleywine. Aroma of Belgian chocolates, vanilla and indeed the bourbon behind it, oak, candied fig, madera, white port, pear syrup, dates, yellow raisins, 'boerenjongens', marzipan, toffee, cognac. Densely candied onset, sweet candied figs and cherries, Sultana raisins soaked in white rum, soft carb with full yet vinous mouthfeel - a tad sticky from the sugars, but not overly so, maintaining a relatively high degree of 'drinkability'. Layers of toffee, hazelnut paste and slight (milk) chocolate fill the middle, warmed by fortified wine-like alcohol more than actual bourbon - madera and port, but then indeed the bourbon does seep through, in all its vanillin glory, reinforced by oak. The wood brings tannins too, but everything remains smooth, sweet, candied, vinous and fortified wine-like in a thicker, toffeeish way, with a long, warming finish in which almonds, raisins and dates feature again. Slight nutty accents too, and then something brandy-like... This is one of those intricate, multidimensional barleywines that keep on giving, a thing of beauty to be savoured gently on a gloomy evening; feels very American, but at the same time, given its sweetness and maltiness, it does live up to its 'English barleywine' ambitions too - in fact I already guessed that before I knew it was even the intention. A masterpiece for sure so the very high scores here are completely deserved.
Alengrin (11561) reviewed Turbo from Brouwerij 't IJ 1 week ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Dupont must have been the first brewery to make a case for creating a subcategory of 'strong saisons' with their Moinettes and Bons Voeux many a decade ago (Moinette Blonde dating back to the fifties even), but in spite of the 'saison revival' in Belgium of the past years, one does not often see this concept being explicitly advertised - so this Turbo by 't IJ, the great Amsterdam pioneer now owned by Moortgat, sparked my curiosity. Medium thick, frothy, snow white, slightly irregular, slowly breaking head on a misty golden blonde robe with khaki-ish tinge and some disparate bubbles here and there. Aroma of banana-flavoured bubblegum but not as exaggerated as I was fearing, pear, ripe apricot, wodka, brioche, candy apple, dry straw, white pepper, dried lemon thyme, rose petals, pineapple, crème anglaise, clove. Fruity onset, pear, pineapple and quite some banana, but again they somehow managed to restrain the isoamylacetate a bit, even though a bubblegummy touch is certainly there; sharpish but fine-bubbled, stingy carbonation, full but slick body. White-bready and cereally, simple pale malts 'amped' by white candi sugar like in any 'hypercommercial' tripel, but then gradually more spicy notes appear which I assume are meant to represent the 'saison' part: a bit black-peppery, with side notes of green bell pepper, clove and nutmeg, all very subtle though, both in aroma and in taste. Smooth finish, in all; there is a leafy, rooty hop bitter element in the tail, behaving more assertively and obstinately than I was expecting, but as I could have guessed from the start, this bitterness is of course partially due to alcohol as well, with this 'jenever'-like effect adding unpleasant wryness in the tail. In spite of its flaws, this is somewhat better than I was expecting (bearing IJ's present-day quality in mind) - but needless to say, we are still miles away from the Dupont examples I mentioned in the beginning of my review here. 'Miles' does not even cover it - 'light-years' seems more satisfying a term. In all: crude and boozy yet less harshly so than feared.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
When the first Zenne y Frontera was created by the late Armand Debelder and released in 2012 (still one of 3 Fonteinen's most coveted bottlings to this day), who could have guessed that it would spawn such a complicated, intricate tree of variants - this one coming from magnum bottles only, consisting of a major portion of oloroso barrel aged young lambic 'sparked' with added lambic before bottling... I am simply glad I could identify this particular variant here and will not bother comparing it with all those other ZyF shapes and forms, so let me just say this: big cheers to Martijn for generously sharing this impressive bottle during dinner time on Proevertjesdag! Snow white, thin and open, loose ring for a head (not much of a head expected anyway), misty warm peachy orange blonde robe. Aroma of dry oak wood and a lot of it, dry peanuts and peanut skin, green plum, very dry sherry indeed but not very strongly so, dandelion, green apple slices, dried mushroom somewhere, saddle soap, old cracked leather, bergamot oil, minerals. Crisp onset, green plum and gooseberry elements but not 'wildly' estery, very light fried mushroom umami touch, medium carb with full, rounded, supple body; bready core under the evident lactic tartness, dry and a bit astringent here, with this unripe stonefruitiness lingering about. The typical sherry nuttiness one finds in most of the ZyF variants remains rather subdued here; woody tannins are strongly present, adding to the general dryness, while a lemon rind bitter-sourness remains, along with hints of dandelion and Bretty old leather. Complex, streamlined, utterly well-crafted lambic of course - I was not expecting anything less than that - but somehow a bit less sherry-forward than I was expecting (and hoping).
Alengrin
updated a beer:
Zenne y Frontera (Season 19|20) Blend No. 66
brewed by Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
1 week ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Special version of 3 Fonteinen's Schaarbeekse Kriek, one of the great classics in that particular 'Schaarbeekse' subdivision of cherry lambics, matured in casks that were toasted like wine barrels - though sadly the label forgets to mention the degree of toasting (light, medium, medium-plus or heavy)... Vintage bottle (five years old) shared with the other participants at Proevertjesdag. Medium thick, 'dusty off-pink', moussey, opening and eventually dissolving head on a hazy to cloudy deep burgundy red robe with purplish wine red glow. Aroma of stewed sour cherries, cherry wine, stale sweat, kimchi, vanillin-exuding oak wood, cherry stones, red wine vinegar, damp earth, almond, fermenting beetroot, crabapple, unripe red plum, vague caramelly toasty accent - really subtle but absent in the regular version. Tart, full-on fruity onset, a thick pulp of sour cherries with 'side effects' of green apple, rhubarb and unripe plum, juicy and full, a tad vinous in mouthfeel, medium carbonated; fruity lactic acidity joining the huge sour fruitiness of the cherries, over a bready core. Astringent effects in the finish (tannic wood plus cherry stones and skins) mitigated by the sheer fleshiness of the cherries, deep and 'moist', with their tartness lingering on in a colourful way. Rich, full and fleshy as expected, but apart from that subtle toasty effect in the nose which I think most will find hard to pick out, there is not that much difference with a regular 3 Fonteinen Schaarbeekse of the same age, I think - only a side by side tasting would be able to clarify that, I guess.
Alengrin (11561) reviewed Van De Velde Weet Het from Dok Brewing Company 1 week ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
One of Dok's "uytzet" variants, referring to a historical beer style once typical for Ghent and / or Wetteren (the debate is still on) - it shows, among many other things, how well aware Dok is of international craft beer tendencies, because reviving or even resurrecting historical beers is one of the many aspects of 'craft beer' (think of Hair of the Dog's Adam, to name one of the great classics in this respect). Contrary to what Paeleman already did back in the late nineties with his Uitzet 1730 (and I am confident that Dok acknowledges Paeleman's merit of bringing this forgotten style back to the attention of the consumer back then), Dok takes their self-imposed endeavour very seriously, going as far as to search the university library for historical traces of this once popular beer style - a library housed in the iconic Ghent Boekentoren ('book tower'), a modernist building designed by the architect Henry Van de Velde, which brings us back to this particular variant. Comes from a can and is "heavily hopped" with noble hops, both young (Spalter Select was developed in 1993 so before the advent of craft beer in Europe, but still fairly recently) and old. Medium thick, snow white, beautifully 'kant'-like lacing, opening but otherwise very stable head on an initially clear, warm 'metallic' orange-golden robe with amberish glow, misty and deeper orange with sediment. Aroma of brown bread slices, croissants, dried apple peel, biscuit, sweetclover, unripe pear, dry straw, mace, Betterfood, old dried orange peel, bruschetta, roses, chamomile, yam. Crisp onset, restrained in fruity esters (for a traditional Belgian ale style at least) but underneath the surface, quite a lot of flavour is brooding, varying from dried apple peel and hard pear to persimmon and unripe peach, moving into a minerally carbonated, deeply bready core, croissant- and a bit biscuit-like, soft and moist brown bread slices, dryish and then confidently bittered by floral, earthy hops, a tad rooty in the end but remaining tasteful and balanced, with lots of field flower associations (chamomile, clover, blossoming grasses) - the kind of Flemish countryside meadow one dreams about, but is mostly an idyll of the past. A kind of 'juicy minerality' runs through it all and keeps lingering on the tongue. I have stated this before with regard to these uytzet beers by Dok: if there was ever a brewery destined to revive this Ghentian (or 'Wetterse') style, it is them. This one is beautiful in its pairing of earthiness with fraîcheur - I think Henry Van de Velde, provided the man enjoyed beer at all, could have been very happy with it. Cheers to 'his' Boekentoren, a building I observe with fondness at least once a week, as well - that too brings back memories...
Alengrin (11561) reviewed Barbera from Brasserie Cantillon 1 week ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
One of the meanwhile countless variations on grape lambic by Cantillon, the great pioneer in grape lambics, experimenting with the concept since the seventies (though I recall reading somewhere that Timmermans already tried similar things in the sixties but abandoned the idea); apparently there are historical references to grape lambics being produced in the 19th century especially in the Hoeilaart region, which is what Cantillon's original grape lambic, Vigneronne, was inspired by. Anyway, this one uses not entire grapes but pomace, from the renowned Italian Barbera variety, grown primarily in the Piemonte region. Thanks to Bart for putting this on the Proevertjesdag menu! Moussey, pinkish-tinged off-white, thinnish and opening head on a clear vermillion robe with bronze-ish tinge - clearly this is one made with blue grapes. Aroma of indeed lots of blue grapes but sour ones, grape skins and seeds, redcurrant, rosehip, wood sorrel, oxidized old rosé wine, purple gooseberry, kefir, old oak, bergamot oil, dry hay. Lively fruity onset, lots of tart but juicy 'grapeyness', red plum and redcurrant notes, lively carbonated with supple yet full, vinous mouthfeel; grainy core under very fruity lactic acidity paired with actual pomace acidity and fruitiness, against an increasingly tannic background of wood and grape seeds. Red grape flavours abound in the finish, making for a very colourful ending, reminiscent of very dry rosé wine and unsugared red fruit juices - but always with hayish funkiness and tannic woodiness filling the gaps. Balanced, highly sophisticated drink - this is Cantillon at full strength, and as is the case with the Sophia we had the same evening, a demonstration of just how much bright fruitiness can be pulled out of pomace alone. Impressive.
Alengrin (11561) reviewed Sophia Lambic from Brasserie Cantillon 1 week ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Cantillon's amphora-aged grape lambic - or rather, pomace lambic, as only pomace from Greco grapes was used; became an instant classic upon its release and I am absolutely certain that I had it at that time, so I wonder why my rating was not imported from Ratebeer to here like all those others. This is also worrying because who knows what else went lost in the translation from one site to the other... Anyway, thanks to Bart, I got a second chance at rating this one so big cheers to that. Snow white, medium thick, moussey, opening and thinning head on an initially clear, warm yellow-golden blonde robe, turning a bit 'milky' with sediment. Aroma of green apple, unripe green grape and grape skin, wine gums somewhere, sourdough, whitecurrant, baked clay from the amphorae, lemon blossom, lime zest, raw quince, river sand, minerals, pickled apricots and an odd touch of entirely green banana. Tart onset packed with fruitiness, very refined in every respect, bringing associations with green apple slices and sour whitecurrants but also hard pear and white grape; medium carb, yoghurty lactic acidity running through a wheaty, supple grain core, vinous in mouthfeel with a pronounced underlying minerality - again that clay-like amphora thing returning. Minerally, tart-fruity, very vinous, complex finish - no wood indeed, but still every bit as layered as any 'normal' wood-aged fruit lambic. Utterly fruity in a supposedly restrained way - paradoxically perhaps, but Cantillon knows how to bring out tons of fruitiness from just pomace, a talent I have praised Tilquin for on certain occasions as well. I think I still prefer the warmth and 'organic' feel of wood, but the amphora effect could not have been more sophisticated than in this beautiful gem.
Alengrin (11561) reviewed Oude Geuze Dry-Hopped from Timmermans 1 week ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
New addition to the range of Timmermans, the lambic brewery in Itterbeek with a turbulent history dating back to at least the early 18th century, owned by John Martin since 1993, after which the 75 cl bottlings (of e.g. the classic Gueuze Caveau, already a very soft example of the style back then, in my memory at least) were abandoned and everything that came out of the brewery was sweetened, pasteurised and, well, 'compromised'. Only in 2013, after having felt the western winds of change sweeping through the beer world, did John Martin's Timmermans come up with a true traditional geuze, still in existence today. Since then, several memorable 'authentic' lambics have availed - the bourbon barrel aged version of Griotteke was a thing of pure beauty, for instance, so my hopes for this dry-hopped geuze, in a new and still experimental phase of 'hoppy lambics' pioneered by Cantillon's Cuvée Des Champions in 2004, are quite high. Medium thick, snow white, tiny-bubbled and stable, shred-lacing, only slowly opening head; misty orange blonde robe with warm tangerine glow and fine strings of bubbles rising up here and there. Aroma of lime juice, green apple slices, gooseberries, damp haystack, grapefruit zest, freshly cut dandelions, grape skin or very dry white wine somewhere, sourdough, bergamot oil, kombucha, sawdust, dry earth, hints of river sand, old books, dried pine needles, black tea, acrylic fabric somewhere. Lemony onset, lots of green apple and gooseberry but also a strong underlying wryness of unripe green plum, somewhat astringent, an effect doubtlessly enhanced by the hops; bright minerality underneath in spite of softer effervescence than expected (and even a bit below average for a geuze), supple body. Bread-crusty graininess under drying lactic acidity but remaining crisply 'green-fruity', with growing woody tannins and pronounced hop bitterness, which actually matches well with the woodiness and the overall dry character of the lambic - the retronasal aromas one tends to associate with Idaho 7, Azacca and Sultana hops remain relatively subdued, even if a clear grapefruity effect is very noticeable. I must admit that with this combo, I was expecting more tropical fruit as well, but this is a geuze after all and not an IPA so perhaps in a lambic context, it is for the better that the hops' aromatics remain limited to grapefruit peel and orange pith-like effects. The bitterness, however, is long, strong and rooty, with a somewhat tonic water-like resonance in the end, while the sour traces of lemony flavours linger, as does that 'sparkly' minerality not coming from actual sparkling. Altogether different from what I was expecting, but as a whole, definitely a fine geuze with a citrusy twist and more bitterness than average. It did not blow me away like Griotteke did, though.