Alengrin
Ghent, Belgium 🇧🇪 MemberOptions
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Alengrin
updated a brewery:
La Manufacture Urbaine
located in Belgium
8 months ago
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Dors Pilsener from Jumbo Supermarkten 8 months ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2.5 | Flavor - 2.5 | Texture - 3 | Overall - 2
Standard pale lager made for the Jumbo supermarket chain by Swinkels, good ole Bavaria in other words - and I would not be surprised if this is exactly the same as Bavaria Pilsener (adding that they have a lot of guts to call such a product "Pilsener" to begin with), because why would a macro brewery devoid of any form of artistic pride, inspiration and creativity, yet full of 'Dutch' avarice and efficiency, develop a recipe for a genre that does not even ask for separate recipes? Can from the Jumbo in Ghent, bought in the beginning of this month - so 'aged' for one month after purchasing... Medium sized, regular, even-bubbled, snow white, 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, interrupted but altogether fairly stable head on an obviously crystal clear pale yellow blonde robe with only a few bubbles rising up every now and then. Simplistic aroma of corn - and the water coming out of a can of corn, damp kitchen cloth, plaster, malt sugar and artificial sweetener, something distantly 'fart'-like (sorry) yet nothing truly 'beery'. Neutral to sweet but in any case very one-dimensional, simple 'onset' carrying very little flavour if any at all, lively carb as can be expected but unfortunately not sharp enough to destroy this slick, thin body of unpleasantly thin and superficial graininess, combined with a corn effect I can only compare with chicken food diluted by rainwater. A metallic 'zing' adds even more forlonness, and then the death blow is delivered by a weird, chemical bitterness in the end, possibly hoppy in nature but surely not tasting like actual hops. I am almost thankful that the ending is at least bittering here, but this bittering remains unpleasant, just like everything - nose to taste - that preceded it; it has been at least twenty years since I last had Bavaria's own 'Pilsener' but who knows, it could have been changed in those two decades... In any case this Jumbo version is even cheaper than Bavaria was back in those days - I get the idea of offering a standard pale lager as cheaply as possible in a supermarket chain like Jumbo, but even then they should have checked the quality level and not be simply 'content' with this abominable, chemically tasting concoction. Albert Heijn, Aldi, Lidl and several other supermarket chains have a 'house' pale lager more decent than this, so why should Jumbo settle with this below-average level of 'quality'? I hate to say it, but my expectations of this one were very low - and yet actually tasting it manages to even perform well below those expectations. I had better standard pale lagers from random African or Asian countries than this. Shame on you, Jumbo - but even more on you, Swinkels.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Herb Tripel from De Circus Brouwerij 8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 4.5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6
The Circus brewery in West-Flanders offering a tripel with "herbes de Provençe", a traditional southern French mix of herbs usually containing at least rosemary, marjoram, savory and thyme but I stress the word 'usually' as lavender, tarragon, parsley and others also occur. I am far from sure if I want to taste such a mix in beer - I am always wary when it comes to "kruidenbier" - but let us give this one a try. Something of a gusher, but manageably so if you are stand-by. Irregular, coarse, large-bubbled, off-white, crackling, busily plaster-lacing, breaking but unevenly stable head over a misty peach blonde robe with pale ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of indeed very strong herbalness, reminiscent of chervil in the first place (to me at least), lavender, marjoram and - somewhat less - tarragon, mixed with notes of bayleaf, clove, autumn apples, minute soup with tomato flavour (oddly - but the "herbes de Provençe" apparently have this effect), old curry powder, horseradish, spice bread, green pear, field flowers, grass, banana peel, "graanjenever". Estery onset but not very sweet, impressions of old wrinkled apple, green pear, some banana and a dash of unripe peach, fizzy carb but not continuously stinging, smooth and fluffy mouthfeel consisting of soft bready malts (cereally-sweetish and a bit cracker-like) soaked in this exaggerated herbaceousness which grows and grows, with perfumey, soapy and soupy (chervil!) effects I cannot appreciate, because this 'bouquet garni' stands in the way of everything else and thus reduces complexity and disturbs balance. Thyme, marjoram and perhaps (young) bayleaf dominate along with that annoying chervil effect, meanwhile hops are reduced to a floral presence in the background, providing just a bit of bitterness in the end but not enough to overrule this herbal overdose. Alcohol admittedly remains well hidden. Circus or not - and I did have some tasty beers from them in previous years - this is an abomination: the herbal effects from the 'Provencal' herbs are so strong here that they almost become nauseating. As a result, I find this concoction difficult to drink - in fact I would have rather had the umpteenth unnecessary sweet coriandered tripel than this soupy-soapy interpretation. "Herbes de Provençe" belong in ratatouille and other southern French dishes - if used relatively freshly and not in the form of an old, dry, dusty herbaceous mess, the way one encounters the concept all too often outside of southern France - but clearly they do not belong in beer. I can hardly imagine even the most seasoned tripel drinker enjoying this - I myself am hardened enough to crude Belgian tripels, but this one I could not physically finish, hence my low rating. "Uncalled for" is the very least one can say here - hopefully this idea of flavouring any beer with "herbes de Provençe" is soon abandoned never to be seen again.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed NEIPA (Cryo Pop) from Brasserie Lupulus 8 months ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
One of these 'postmodern' Lupulus creations trying to be innovative, in this case a NEIPA using Cryo Pop, a pelletised blend of hops in which, through a cryogenic processing technique, the lupulin is separated from the actual hop flower from which it came, thus creating a more 'pureed', concentrated hoppines. Can from the Jumbo supermarket in Ghent. Off-white, irregular-bubbled, open, very loosely knit foam developing during pouring, but then dissolving like the foam on a glass of coke - equally quickly and with exactly the same fizzing sound, leaving absolutely nothing in a few seconds for some strange reason; pale straw blonde, clear robe with a minimum of visible sparkling and a yellowish glow. Aroma of lemon blossoms, honey pomelo flesh, dried lemonbalm, unripe banana, watermelon, green guava, bread crumbs, freshly mown lawn, raw turnip, curry powder, jasmin and even sesame seed oil faraway in the distance. Fruity onset, sweetish with notes of guava, green banana, green kiwi and unripe melon, oddly quite well-carbonated (even a bit stingy) in spite of the total lack of head retention, supple body, cereally pale malt sweet(ish) with vague bread crumb-like notes, aromatised by the Cryo Pop - in this case providing guava, lime blossom and watermelon impressions, but all rather fleetingly so, needing more 'expression' in a way; bitterness meanwhile remains very limited while they did manage to offer a 'naturally' dry finish, weirdly. I visited this brewery fifteen-odd years ago when they just became independent of Achouffe and brewed altogether traditional Belgian ales, but even in those days, they did come up with something pleasantly surprising every now and then (the collaborational IPA with Brooklyn in NY, Brooklynette, back in their Trois Fourquets period, remains unforgettable); yet at that time, I did not see coming what would emerge from this small brewery later. In their endless search for boosting simple recipes with new and trendy hop innovations, they have produced a few pretty decent beers in the past five to ten years so I was hoping for this one to be among those; and basically it does more or less meet my expectations, with a hoppy juiciness and aromatic intensity one only rarely sees in Belgium. Then again, it lacks haziness, creaminess and colourfulness to qualify as even a standard NEIPA - and even more offensively, it lacks a head completely... A difficult case in my system of reviewing - but let's balance out the pros against the contras and give it a medium good score.
gave a cheers!
Alengrin (11609) reviewed NIJPA from Brouwerij 't IJ 8 months ago
Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
Old Dutch 'pre-craft' pioneer 't IJ, now in Moortgat's hands, attempting New England IPA, the hazy and fruity IPA style which has long overthrown the original West Coast IPA in being the dominant IPA idiom on the market globally (except for Belgium perhaps where the often enjoyable, but somehow hilariously unintentional "Belgian IPA" dominates...). One pour says enough: medium sized, off-white, 'Brugse kant'-like lacing, quickly breaking but otherwise stable head on a crystal clear (!) warm old golden robe with very sparse visible sparkling - not looking like a NEIPA at all. Aroma of old onions (even stale armpit sweat) above the intended tropical aromas of slight guava (more like dried peach here) and some background pineapple (canned in this case) both thinly hovering on top of impressions of toasted garlic, freshly struck matches, old dry crackers, moist white pepper, withering leek, raw parsnip. Crisp onset, not at all juicy as a NEIPA should be, some restrained fruitiness reminiscent of green pear and unripe peach with a dash of banana, again only very thinly topped with a guava streak that comes from whatever source, all moderately carbonated but still more minerally than is custom in any kind of NEIPA. Slick, cereally and very slightly toasted maltiness, sweetish and cracker-ish, supporting an aromatically expressive hoppiness rather than completely fusing with it as it ought to be - creating notes of orange, pineapple and peach more than tropical guava or papaya, even if a kind of 'fake' tropicalness hangs around; the hops provide a white pepper-ish bitter note in the end too, much more so (and more 'traditionally' so) than in a NEIPA made correctly - and, ironically, in spite of the brewery itself explicitly stating that according to them, NEIPA is "not bitter"... Still, a pleasant sweet-sourish yellow-green fruitiness hangs around after swallowing - I would even dare to use the word 'juicy', but with a lot of reservation. Look, this brewery set up its business in the eighties, about four decades before NEIPA even came into existence, so it should not suprise anyone that they act like some boomer uncle trying to be 'hip' among millennials and that seems to be what is going wrong here: though by no means an unpleasant beer, it is not a NEIPA at all - it does not even qualify as one in the margins of the genre and it is of little use trying to see this as a true NEIPA. This is essentially (and historically understandably) a Belgian IPA of sorts - read: a Belgian blonde with updated hops - made a little bit less bitter and aromatised with something guava-ish (vaguely at least). Viewed that way, an odd construction which is bound to severely disappoint consumers expecting a proper NEIPA - clearly reflected in the ratings here. I, for a change, will be a bit less harsh towards it, because it does taste quite agreeable - whenever a beer misses its intended style I feel obliged to subtract points for that, but if it is nonetheless a decent beer, this will be only symbolic, and that is basically the case here for me. So, in short: not a NEIPA (or 'NIJPA' as they put it - adding insult to injury) but a very drinkable ale as such.
gave a cheers!
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Waar Is Tent? from Dok Brewing Company 8 months ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
IPL by Dok, hopped with traditional Saaz, familiar Merkur, more adventurous New Zealand bittering hop Rakau (developed in 2007) and tropical yet very American Strata, a rising star in IPA land since its launch in 2018. Can from the Delhaize supermarket at De Sterre in Ghent. Snow white, thickly plaster-like lacing, uneven-bubbled, thick and foamy head, eventually collapsing leaving big gaps, on an initially clear, very pale straw blonde robe with greenish tinge, turning misty further on and showing a few thin strings of nevertheless lively sparkling rising up in the middle. Aroma of strong pomelo flesh (mostly the Merkur I guess), yellow kiwi (Strata), granadilla (dito), something soapy (could be the Saaz), fresh Thai lemongrass and loads of guava (Strata again probably), lime orchard, orange zest, freshly mown lawn, sweetclover, soggy white bread. Crisp, dryish onset made less dry in overall impression by the sweet retronasal hop aromas; some green banana and hard pear, so in any case a bit more fruity and estery than a 'Pilsener', which is apparently the basic style the brewery refers to. Crisp, bit stingy minerally carbonation but acceptable for the intended style, slender yet elegant cereally pale maltiness perfumed with hoppy aromas of citrus blossom, citrus zest, yellow and pink tropical fruits and lemongrass - an intricate but beautifully woven web of all the involved hops contributing to an overall sensation of green tropical 'crispness' and zestiness, with the Rakau performing well in its long-lasting, young wormwood leaf-like bitterness, lending fullness to the finish. From a first impression in the nose filled with tropically scented bath soap (and this time I mean this in a good way) to a firm, sturdy bitterness in the end, this is an interesting and for me very solid IPL of sorts - just forget about that 'Pilsener' association and you will be fine with this one. I trust this brewery with lagers of whichever kind with my life - never have I had a bottom-fermented beer brewed at this wonderful place in post-industrial Dok-Noord in the old docks neighborhood in Ghent that disappointed, on the contrary.
Alengrin
added a new beer
Waar Is Tent?
by
Dok Brewing Company
8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
It has been a long time since I had a DVDK tick so I am looking forward to this: the cranberry 'fruit beer' version of Bien-Sûr, a sour ale aged in gin barrels. This derivative version was originally aged in gin barrels too (see the picture above for the original label explicitly mentioning it), but the present-day one just mentions barrel ageing in general, probably because the brewer did not want to be strictly attached to only gin barrels anymore and still wanted to continue this formula; I leave it to the admins to decide if this warrants a new entry or not (for me it does not, gin barrels are 'included' in barrels in general so the way it is currently brewed, is basically just an 'extension' of the original and does not contradict it). Thick and frothy, regular, pale greyish beige, fine-bubbled, slowly dissipating head over a dark chestnut brown robe with ruddy-burgundy glow. Aroma of indeed actual cranberries (as if gathered in the wild), wild blackberries, sour grapes, soggy dark brown bread, medium dry sherry, very old and oxidized red wine, Cumberland sauce for venison, fried oyster mushrooms, dry forest floor, vanillin from oak wood, passionfruit, still a background touch of gin or at least something 'botanical' as they say, beetroot. Unsurprisingly very fruity onset, clear cranberry flavour delivered generously, in a vinous, medium tart way - the tartness simultaneously stimulated by the beer's own blackberry-ish natural tartness and mitigated by a soft malty sweet element. Lively carbonation, fizzing on the tongue, also accentuates the sour side, which eventually gains the upper hand in a pleasantly refreshing, continuously red berry-like way, not really lemony, neither too wry or vinegary. Supple brown-bready maltiness under ongoing cranberry acidity, yoghurty lactic tartness and overall sour berry-like fruitiness - with those soft, sweet malts beautifully absorbing part of the sourness. Tannic wood effects in the finish, a tad astringent in combination with the sourness, but the noble oaky flavours match well with everything else - also with a toasty and eventually leafy-hoppy bitter note that graces the finishing stage. Herbal notes linger afterwards too, as in black tea, clove and Glühwein - subtle enough not to annoy me, but noticeable enough to bring up that gin association again, so I suspect my sample still at least partially made use of gin barrels. Needless to say, the sheer generosity of the cranberries ensures that this juicy, 'foresty' red berry flavour maintains dominance till the very last drop - aided by a yeasty earthiness reinforcing my associations with the woods and boglands in Upper Belgium where I found wild cranberries almost three decades ago. Plunging into nature in my earlier life and creating memories from it has helped me a lot in appreciating certain 'artisanal' beers later on, and this one is a nice example of that... Highly drinkable but complex enough to entertain from beginning to end, vinous, fruity in a 'dark' and autumny kind of way, rustic and balanced sour ale - a very nice offering from DVDK, once again.
gave a cheers!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
The Colruyt supermarket chain has presented many interesting beers that were custom made for them but so far never a lambic (at least to my knowledge) - so this is one interesting one-off, apparently created because one of Colruyt's former managers (and grandson of the founder of the chain) is an old friend of Frank Boon and allegedly even helped distributing Boon's products in the earliest phase of the brewery's history. For this "special family blend", the two old friends joined forces and selected the lambics that constitute this one-off - but alas the proportions of the different ages or other production details are nowhere to be found, so that I cannot know in which way this one differs from the classic geuze Mariage Parfait, which has the same ABV. Comes from a terracotta-labelled corked bottle with hangtag showing a picture of the two gentlemen in the Boon brewery between the foeders. Cork under high pressure but no gushing. Regular, fairly thick, crackling, sparsely lacing, firm, egg-white head on an initially clear, warm 'old golden' robe with orangey tinge and steady columns of enthusiastic sparkling rising up and feeding the head; misty and more deeply ochre-orange further into the bottle. Aroma of dried lemon zest, oxidized apple slices, dry wood, dusty attic, green plum, wood sorrel, cava, unripe peach, gravel, a volatile note of manure faraway in the background, unripe orange, dandelion leaves, limestone, old dry sherry note but very faint. Crisp, 'juicy' onset, 'malse' lime-like sourness engulfing impressions of green plum, crabapple and crushed green gooseberry, dryingly tart with the tartness being accentuated by strong, very minerally effervescence, but nowhere harshly astringent. Supple middle phase, a bready core further dried by these acids, with the lactic aspect remaining vivid and fruity; gooseberry, sour apple and sorrel elements are joined by a drying, tannic woodiness but the 'chlorine' typical for older Boon lambics remains weak, though noticeable. Mellow, hay-ish Bretty funkiness is mixed in while underneath, a relatively long-stretched, 'green-weedy' and leafy bitterness from the old hops unfolds - but not necessarily more so than in other Boon geuze variants. Lingering limestone-like minerality, unripe orange-like sour fruitiness and a palpable alcohol effect (this is an 8% geuze after all) reminiscent of old dry sherry and warming the throat a bit, adding, in a way, a vague sweetish touch to the finish. The warming effect lasts for a bit but nowhere does it interfere with the other flavour components - as in Mariage Parfait, but having tasted this one now, it has a different, somewhat more 'mellow' and less 'aged' character, even though it is, unsurprisingly, quite similar. The differences, however, suggest that this one does contain more two year old lambic than three year old - or that at least this proportion is somewhat less tilted towards the older lambic than in Mariage Parfait. Not the most distinct geuze, in that sense, but certainly a geuze made with decades long expertise - quite accessible (for its style at least) and highly drinkable in spite of its above-average strength. And a solid Boon geuze of whatever variant is always a treat to me so I enjoyed this one quite a lot. Glad I took the detour to the Colruyt of Sint-Denijs-Westrem to fetch a bottle after a first unsuccessful attempt at the Colruyt of Zele...
Alengrin
updated a beer:
Hopvil Strong
brewed by Martens
8 months ago