Alengrin
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Alengrin
updated a beer:
Pineau des Charentes Lambiek
brewed by Het Boerenerf
8 months ago
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Eating Is Cheating from Dok Brewing Company 8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Dok collaborating with this Spanish craft brewery, resulting in a New Zealand style NEIPA; intended as "double NEIPA", in fact, but this website does not allow for beers under 7.5% ABV to be classified as such - justly so, imagine the chaos and anarchy that would occur otherwise. Like other NZ IPAs, this is intended to be very 'tropical' and showcasing different embodiments of New Zealand's most famous modern hop variety, Nelson Sauvin. Thin and loose, egg-white ring of bubbles on a completely opaque, milky straw blonde robe with beige tinge. Dank aroma of yellow kiwi, 'diesel', stale mango juice, withering southernwood or even shiso, honey pomelo, overripe sweet red onions, gari, rambutan, granadilla, milk powder, soggy Betterfood, white wine must, sake. 'Tropical' juicy onset, sweetish with a slight sourish edge, softly carbonated with creamy body, supporting impressions of granadilla, mango, kiwi and rambutan with a dash of smoky papaya thrown in - all very sultry and 'heavy', a fragrance becoming only stronger towards the end, spanning a soft, soggy-bready, soaked-cereally malt core buried under an overdose of Nelson, so to speak. Its full potential unfolds in the finish, with a retronasal bomb of overripe red onion, shiso, yellow kiwi, dessert wine and sake effects, primarily sweet-fruity but complex, with even a very faint smoky note somewhere. Down below, the juiciness turns more citric in the very end but still in a sweet, tropical way (honey pomelo throughout), picking up herbal and oniony notes as well and establishing a persistently peppery, pleasant bitterness, accentuated by a slight - but not too strong - hop burn. "Quadrupel dry-hopped" indeed - this brew packs a lot of sultry, sweet-tropical, exotic power, that much is clear. Not Dok's most subtle creation in the vast IPA field, perhaps, but Nelson through and through - evoking the shores of New Zealand as convincingly as the shores of any other Pacific archipel. I should actually visit that region someday. Oh, and as for Soma: congrats, you have just joined the ranks of those many, many creative craft brewers collaborating with our Ghentian pride, Dok Brewing Company...
Alengrin
added a new beer
Eating Is Cheating
by
Dok Brewing Company
8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
After roughly a dozen years of home blending, John Versyck took the step of - limitedly - going commercial, operating now from a warehouse in Sint-Amandsberg, submunicipality of Ghent; I had several of his experiments throughout the years (first in 2016 at an event held by the now-defunct Bierhalle Deconinck) but as a lambichead and fellow Ghentian, I just had to have a bottle of his geuze, now boasting the official Sint-Amandsberg address on its label and the number 74 hand written on the crown cap. Said to contain lambics from no less than five different producers, I am really curious for the result (and confident about it, knowing John's experience, passion and dedication). Moderately thick, off-white, bit irregular, quickly breaking but (at least initially) edge-retaining head on a misty deep orange blonde robe with tangerine glow, on the darker side of the spectrum for a geuze, filled with bubbles during pouring but calming down instantly after that. Strong, notably funky-'animalistic' aroma of wet leather, goat stable or the classic 'horseblanket', lots of old furniture, aged dry sherry, armpit sweat and overripe onion, dried grapefruit peel, bitter garden weeds, barnyard galore, minerals piercing through, dried rosehip, tamarillo (and its leaf), wood sorrel, subtle notes of damp forest floor, old cheese rind, walnut vinegar. Astringent onset but in a decent and intriguing way - if you are a geuze lover at least, displaying elements of wild berries, crabapple, tamarillo and (lots of) overripe lemon, deeply sour but not vinegary, with a thick lactic acidity forming a sturdy backbone through it all, surrounding a bread-crusty and rusk-like grain core. The dryness, already strong at first, only increases towards the end, with considerable tannic woodiness setting in - working together with the acids to, so to speak, scrape off the enamel of your teeth. Wild sour fruit keeps playing in the finish, along with profoundly earthy, funky layers, as in dead tree leaves, bitter herbs (dandelion - very much De Troch in fact), dried mushrooms, old onions and very old Parmigiano - but also a lot of ongoing minerality underneath. Long, bone dry finish carrying all that funk, wood and sour autumn fruit with it. I miss a bit of sparkling, literally but also metaphorically: this is a very dense, 'heavy' kind of geuze, with bulky layers of earthy, leafy flavours weighing heavily on the palate - but this is also what makes this particular geuze distinct, without deviating too much from the genre's core features (which did happen, in my personal view, with some novelty geuzes of several other, new producers in the past few years). It feels almost 'autumny' or even 'wintery' especially compared with the stylistically ultra-light, summery 'Petite Gueuze' by Tilquin I had right before this one - a contrast showing how diverse geuze can be, and for me two opposite extremes on the spectrum. This one feels old - beautified by the ravages of time, one could say, and very mature; certainly not a geuze for neophytes in the genre, rather one for the seasoned geuze drinker, and one to tuck away till the cold days of late autumn will be upon us again. Interesting one - not the easiest, smoothest or most elegant geuze I had, but definitely inspired. Cheers John!
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Petite Gueuze Tilquin from Gueuzerie Tilquin 8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Tilquin, established in 2009, has surprised lambicophiles more than once before, but usually by applying unlikely fruit species - I remember experiments with lemon or mandarin, to name a few; this is something altogether different, however: the first canned geuze in history, seemingly a continuation of the idea of vatted geuze which Tilquin already introduced years ago. There is, however, some historical background to justify the idea of geuze from tap, something completely lacking for geuze from a can, of course. Jokes about this have been going around for quite some years, with the exploding popularity of cans in craft beer - yet geuze is just one of those beer styles that seemed immune to this trend, until now (and I have to admit that when I first read about this, I too though it was, again, a joke). There is no doubt in my mind that purists will vehemently resist the idea, I believe it very rarely happens that a beer is released with such a potential to spark controversy as this one - so I am really curious not just about the product itself, but about the debates it will probably trigger, and I think Pierre Tilquin himself, not shy to some controversy, will be too... But let us all relax: first of all, a can is able to withstand up to 6 bars of pressure, which is about the amount of pressure in the average geuze bottle, so we do not have to fear exploding cans. Secondly, we all know the enormous ageing potential of a traditional geuze, but this one - even though ageing beer in cans is perfectly possible - was never intended to be tucked away in a cellar, as Sébastien already pointed out below: it is a kind of light-footed, sessionable beer for this summer, to be enjoyed young. And thirdly: it is not technically an 'oude' geuze at all, but a blend of meerts with 2 year old lambic - which is why it has been classified here as 'unblended': though not literally unblended, this category seems to convey the true nature of this "Petite Gueuze" perhaps a bit more accurately than the 'real' geuze category, though admittedly the lines are a bit blurry (but then this can be said of e.g. Boon's Mono Blends too). So, on to this 'little' beer then, coming from a 33 cl can (it is worth noting that the canning was done at Minne). Medium sized, egg-white, tiny-bubbled, slowly breaking but generally well-retaining head on a hazed yellow golden blonde robe with ochre-ish tinge and strings of fine but enthusiastic sparkling. Aroma of Granny Smith apple, considerable farmland and even manure (which lingers for a long time much more so than I am used to even from this genre), lime juice, overripe lemon, wet hay, sorrel, raw rhubarb, some background wood, unripe nectarine, wild berrries, ultra-dry white wine, dried moss, vague note of chalk. Lemony-sour, puckering onset, lime juice, green apple, sour unripe grapes and raw rhubarb - but smooth and refreshing, with minerally effervescence, very finely tingling; slick core, white-bready, dried by this lemony effect, reinforced by lactic acidity and some tannic effects from the wood in the background (subtle as expected). An odd chalky, even somewhat gypsum-like effect runs through it all, a feature I remember to have encountered in some of those Meerts editions Tilquin did a couple of years ago; the finish reprises green apple, lime and unripe grape effects but holds everything together well. Retronasally, quite a lot of that persistent 'freshly fermented farmland' lingers - I guess some consumers would consider this 'funk', but it is more down to earth than that, in a manner of speech. Purely flavour-wise, it does what it promises: a kind of quick, light-bodied, summery but in all respects 'credible' lambic experience - with the meerts being prevalent and indeed very reminiscent of that (fruited) Meerts series of 2022. Nothing to be shocked or spooked about, but I personally still prefer a fully developed, aged, corked and bottled geuze, for complexity and maturity alone.
Alengrin
updated a beer:
Petite Gueuze Tilquin
brewed by Gueuzerie Tilquin
8 months ago
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Tjenne De Strop from Brouwerij Slaapmutske 8 months ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
One of those typically Belgian ales which have a story more elaborate than their flavour - and very likely a simple alias of Slaapmutske Blond, the first Slaapmutske beer ever released, now a quarter of a century ago (as I indeed remember personally). Slaapmutske is located adjacent to the city of Ghent (in Melle) so it is not surprising that now-octogenarian Etienne Flerick, the eponymous 'Tjenne De Strop', came into contact with them to produce his own beer, celebrating the processional giant (a folkloristic thing I will not digress about here) that was made in his honour; Flerick is the dean of the St. Pieters station neighbourhood in Ghent ('dean' in this case referring to an ancient, secular and 'commercial' function in the traditions of this city which I cannot digress about here either), coincidentally the neighbourhood where I live, and grew up in this vicinity, so it feels appropriate for me to be the first (and probably last) one to review this ultra-local beer... Interestingly, Flerick was also the man behind Gensch Manneke Pis, a witbier launched in 2013 and still in existence today as far as I know. Anyway, long story short: egg-white, irregular, medium thick, very stable, irregularly but persistently cobweb-lacing head over an initially crystal clear, pure golden blonde robe with 'old gold' hue and clear visible sparkling rising upwards, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of ripe banana and even some chewing gum (isoamylacetate), white bread, coriander seed, wet powder sugar, rainwater, potato juice, chamomile, hints of grass, roses, wet dog, sweetclover, old turnips, unripe pear somewhere. Fruity onset, sweetish with a lot of banana ester but also impressions of ripe pear, ripe peach and red apple, with a vaguely sourish undertone reinforced by very active, though not painfully stinging, still minerally carbonation; smooth body, feeling a tad fuller than the ABV would suggest. Simple but effective pale maltiness, sweetish with some residual, honeyish sugars on top, grainy but also agreeably white-bready in its core, flavoured with the obligatory dash of coriander that lingers (too long) over the finish, which in itself adds a floral, gentle yet effective hop bitter effect to the whole. Earthy retronasal whiffs of old potatoes and old turnips, along with all the coriander, are less pleasant. The hop bitterness spreads a bit but does so very carefully - luckily though, the rather dominant banana ester begins to fade seconds after swallowing, even though the coriander effect annoyingly remains, even with a somewhat astringently herbal, unpleasant effect. I already used up a lot of words to describe something overly simplistic: this is yet another reiteration of the eternal Belgian blonde ale, incorporating the stereotypical banana ester and even (strong!) coriander - I guess zythologists could use this as a textbook example of the style. It has been too long since I last had Slaapmutske Blond (sorry Danny!) but I am almost certain that this is just an 'etiketbier' of it - a side by side tasting seems in order, for those 'thusly inclined'. Boring to the bone, but I sincerely hope old Etienne, or indeed 'Tjenne' as they say in the local dialect, enjoys this beer in his honour - as stated above, I happen to live in his deanery so I will remain very careful in my comments...
Alengrin
added a new beer
Tjenne De Strop
by
Brouwerij Slaapmutske
8 months ago
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Tropical Sunset from Brouwerij Kees 8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
'Standard' NEIPA by Kees, still one of the leading Dutch craft brewers, hopped with the "bare essentials" Citra and Mosaic - so no frills here, just a basic NEIPA, coming from a can bought in a Jumbo supermarket. Thick and foamy, egg-white, audibly sizzling, pillowy, frothy head dwindling very slowly over a hazed yellow blonde robe with olive greenish tinge. Aroma of pomelo zest, orange pith and grapefruit peel so very much Citra, but also fried leek, lots of fresh lemonbalm, drying white bread, cooked sweet potato, vague guava, chamomile and even homemade 'flower cookies', faint background hints of vanilla (even quite 'genuine', oddly), very light wet dog, dried roses and pond water teeming with green algae - perhaps even the faintest note of fresh raw shellfish. Quite crisp onset for the style due to sharp carbonation with strong minerally effects (which should not be present in this style), notes of green banana, green mango and green guava but nowhere explicitly sweet; hint of raw cucumber and something unripe pear-like alongside a sharp-edged pale maltiness, but not grainy - in fact a certain smoothness, applicable to the intended style, is maintained, yet not in an overly creamy way. The hops increase in strength as it goes, pushing forward retronasal citric aromas of lime zest, grapefruit blossom and pomelo flesh - as well as the lemonbalm plant I grew up with, in a more herbal way. Meanwhile the same hops also impose a certain leafy bitterishness over the finish - but fairly gently so, even if 'spreading out' for a while. Not your typical standard NEIPA if you ask me: much more crisp, more bitter and less creamy, this one behaves more like a "mountain IPA", or something in between East Coast and West Coast - in fact, if marketed differently, it could well pass for one of those contemporary 'new' West Coast IPAs which are distinghuised from the dominant hazy IPA mode just by being a bit more bitter and crisp (whilst usually failing to convey the actual historical West Coast IPA of two or three decades ago). Kind of an 'everyday IPA' indeed, hence its presence in a supermarket, I guess - but far from Kees' greatest achievements even in the IPA field, which admittedly has never been his forte.