Alengrin
Ghent, Belgium 🇧🇪 MemberOptions
Activity
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9
One of the last set of Tilquin "family tree" geuzes, honouring Pierre Tilquin's great-grandmother; of all the family tree geuzes made so far, this one contains the highest proportion of two year old geuze, the same proportion that is normally - in the 'average' geuze - reserved for one year old lambiek. Medium thick, snow white, dense, lightly lacing, somewhat irregularly edged but initially well-retaining head, eventually dissipating over a misty warm peach blonde robe with ochre-ish tinge and steady, very fine-bubbled, dense and fairly 'calmly' moving sparkling throughout. Aroma of halfripe apricot, oxidized green apple slices, yellow plum, some 'nutty' dry sherry, dusty attic, a dried rose bouquet, hints of wet leather, grass silage, old dried lemon peel, tarragon vinegar, moss, rainwater, vague chlorine faraway in the background (a feature I most typically associate with aged Boon lambic). Crisp onset, spritzy effervescence but in a fine-bubbled, lambrusco-like way, accentuating underlying minerality, while estery fruity notes develop, tart in a 'malse' way and reminiscent of oxidized green apple, green plum and gooseberry - but also a softer, almost sweeter hint in its core, apricot-like. Supple, vinous body, ongoing minerality and a long stretch of lactic sourness in a very 'vivid', fruity way, piercing through a smoothly bready backbone carrying the tart fruitiness onwards as well as that apricot-like touch. A very light sherry-like nuttiness appears at the back, along with tannic woodiness and leathery Brett effects, all comined into general dryness, but somehow a 'juiciness' is retained to balance it - probably that (only halfripe) apricot element again. Lemon juice-like flavours remain after all this has passed, most refreshingly so, while retronasally, this lovely 'sherry nuttiness' pops up one last time before fading. Not that I was expecting anything different considering the consistently high quality level of these family tree geuzes - I had all those which preceded this one and literally all of them were great examples of the style - but this is again a masterpiece in geuze blending, showcasing the aged, but still supple and lively, juicy character of the two year old lambic, the star of the show. This geuze is distinguished by a more pronounced minerality, a softer apricot-like accent and sherry-like nutty elegance in comparison with the others, and the overall result is stunning. For me, this one is certainly among the best so far - the best of the best, one should say in this case. Impressive.
gave a cheers!
Alengrin
updated a beer:
Oude Gueuze à l'Ancienne - Cuvée Marguerite
brewed by Gueuzerie Tilquin
8 months ago
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Hazy Jane - Guava from BrewDog 8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5
Fruited hazy IPA by BrewDog, can from the Albert Heijn supermarket in Lokeren. Thick and foamy, snow white, firm and lasting head, hazy apricot-golden robe with ochre-ish tinge. Aroma of sugared melon, canned guava soda (Maaza etc.), honey pomelo, Fanta Dragonfruit, mandarin, fresh dough, ripe pear. Sugary sweet onset, a citrusy edge round a strong fruit concentrate-derived artificial guava flavour with side notes of pear, mango and some vague pineapple but none feeling natural; medium carb, soft and fluffy mouthfeel, doughy-cereally core soaked in this overly sweet guava lemonade effect, remaining soda pop-like and cloyingly sweet till the end, where it meets a slight citrusy effect – but not feeling very ‘hoppy’, at least not in a natural way. Bitterness remains almost indistinguishable while this soapy guava lemonade effect lingers. I would never have imagined the punks from BrewDog creating something as childishly sweet as this when I got to know their output two decades ago – they lost a lot of street cred in the craft beer world since then for becoming too big and ‘commercial’, deliberately aiming at the casual IPA drinker (a fairly new phenomenon in itself of course) with interchangeable APA and IPA variants and the like. But even with that in mind, this is just ridiculous. I will not be very inclined anymore to grab a BrewDog can from a shelf in the future…
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Dors Tripel from Jumbo Supermarkten 8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 4
The tripel in the Dors brand, created specifically for the Jumbo supermarket chain and brewed by Bavaria; bottle from the Jumbo supermarket near the ‘Darsen’ (docks) in the outskirts of Ghent. Snow white, moussey, membrane-lacing, slowly dissipating head, misty warm orangey-golden robe. Aroma of banana peel, cooked parsnip, powder sugar, plastic, old potatoes, industrial honey, cheap gin, green garden weeds, burnt rubber in the background (DMTS?). Simplistic onset dominated by a one-sided white candi sugar sweetness, vague hints of pear and of course banana, but a straightforward white-sugary aspect keeps accompanying everything, through a moderately carbonated, slick cereally core, in itself largely ‘filled’ with white candi syrup and with slightly metallic edges. Even less pleasant than this and that annoying sweetness are the plastic-like effects in the finish, paired with a rather artificial, almost somewhat ‘medicinal’ bitterness and warming, gin-like alcohol. This is Bavaria (or Swinkels as they call themselves today) all over: a tripel created by a macro brewery mostly experienced in dreary pale lagers including the cheap strong ones aimed at alcoholics. The result was going to be predictable I guess, but honestly this is even worse than anticipated and well below the average quality level of even the most average thirteen-from-a-dozen Belgian tripel: clearly short-cut in production, empty, cheap, overly sweet and artificial. Quite frankly, even among the worst tripels I ever had, and I had a lot of them.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Ziggy Sitar Dust Raga from Donder bv 8 months ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
One of this new, very small lambic blender’s first geuze attempts, literally dubbed a “summer geuze”, shared with Goedele and Jo. Thinnish, open, snow white ring of tiny bubbles over an initially clear, warm pale orange-golden robe, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of halfripe apricot, grass silage, dried lemon peel, oxidized green apple slices, field flowers, a vanilla-ish oak wood note, ripe gooseberry, something nutty (dry sherry), cucumber flesh, lime juice, wood sorrel, cava. Crisp onset, green-fruity, sour with a slight astringent edge, with flavours of green apple, cucumber, green walnut and unripe plum; lively carb, but less ‘champenoise’ than is custom for a geuze. Soft, supple, slender body, a bit ‘fluffy’ and sourdoughy with a continuing green apple- and lime-like acidic edge, even developing a subtle citrus pith-like bitter note. Meanwhile a vague whiff of peachy sweetishness lingers about, along with floral effects; tannic woodiness and funky Brett remain very restrained, so that this geuze finishes very light-bodied, summer-fruity and flowery – in fact delivering a flavour ‘parcours’ much more reminiscent of a modern blonde sour ale than a true lambic or geuze… Especially the wild yeast aspects are oddly lacking here, and the whole seems, in a sense, insufficiently matured – or even made in a different way than the traditional lambic way. Quite ‘off the beaten track’ for a geuze – not unlike some of those Sako geuzes – so if you are looking for a full-bodied, deeply complex, funky, classic geuze, then this one will probably disappoint, even though judged by itself, it is an elegantly light, indeed summery, ‘natural’ and pleasant quencher. A bit weird – but it will be interesting to see how this Donder range will evolve in the coming years.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Ever since I first started to take beer seriously, more than a quarter of a century ago, I have wondered why some old styles are what they are – including the fact that lambic traditionally is always a pale beer… I asked myself more than once why nobody at the time brewed dark lambics, but of course “sticking to tradition and history” is the only reasonable answer to that question, given that the experimental tendencies of the great global craft beer movement had not arrived in Europe yet at the time. The theoretical possibility of ‘dark lambic’ became reality in 2015 with Cantillon’s Zwanze of that year (a “spontaneously fermented stout”) and again in the spring of 2017 with Nocturne, 3 Fonteinen’s very first Twist of Fate; the latter was poured for me by the legendary Armand Debelder himself, who clarified that this experiment of turning lambic into a dark beer had lead to something eerily close to oud bruin (Flemish red), which may be the reason why the idea did not caught on, because what is the point if a whole tradition of oud bruin already exists… In fact I cannot even think of any other examples, at least not within the Belgian lambic tradition – and then suddenly Lindemans comes up with this: a ‘dark geuze’, aged on cognac barrels on top of that. Knowing how refined Lindemans’ special editions often are, I was stoked to sample this one, so big thanks to my neighbour Jo for sharing the bottle! Pale yellowish beige, moussey, medium sized, slowly breaking but generally well-retaining head on an initially clear ruddy brown robe with mahogany glow, hazy further on. Aroma of blackberries, unripe blueberries, sour grapes, dry caramel, brown bread, vanilla-ish oak wood and indeed a whiff of brandy, old wrinkled autumn apples, wet tree leaves on a forest floor (with sediment), touches of balsamico and passionfruit but little Brett ‘funkiness’. Very fruity, tart onset, lots of blackberry, medlar, halfripe plum and apple peel impressions, sour with a sweetish core – and sour in a very ‘malse’, soft way; moderately carbonated with minerally effects but no real ‘champenoise’ effect. Dry-caramelly, brown-bready maltiness, supple and rounded, with vinous mouthfeel and slick wheatiness underneath; the dark malts even briefly and gently provide a toasty bitter accent further on, while this tart ‘autumn fruit’ component remains very dominant, aided by yoghurty lactic sourness. The overall vinosity is even increased in the finish due to the cognac effect; the liquor does not become too strong, though, supporting the ‘grapey fruitiness’ rather than heating it, accompanied by rustic woodiness (even vague ‘oaky vanilla’ retronasally). Supple, tasty and, in all, quite ‘clean’; indeed – unsurprisingly – very oud bruin-like, even in a way reminiscent of Rodenbach Vintage and the like. Interesting beer in my opinion, but that said, if you are looking for an actual dark geuze, this will not live up to expectations, as it clearly lacks the ‘wild’ complexity, effervescence, funkiness and depth a ‘normal’ geuze, if properly done, has to offer. My rating here remains however based on whether I liked it or not, and I sure enjoyed this creation – and intend to keep another bottle in the cellar for a while and see how it evolves.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Grisette by Dok Brewing Company, sampled at Marengo, the new pub housed in the 19th-century Salon Napoléon on the Coupure in Ghent. Regular, firm, medium thick, egg-white head over a hazy ochre-tinged straw blonde beer. Aroma of green pear, unexpected perfumey blossom effects (jasmin, lime orchard, blossoming mediterranean shrubs), chamomile, tarragon, spice read, dough, wet sand, minerals. Spritzy onset, very sharply carbonated (as usual with Dok beers from tap – too sharply so), very minerally which, perhaps, coincidentally fits the intended style more than many others; green-fruity esters (pear, green banana) but restrained in sweetness with a supple doughy and cracker-like pale malt core, including wheat slickness and even wheat soapiness, with the carbon dioxide sharply piercing through it till the end. Finishes in floral and grassy hops providing a confident but not overpowering, balancing bitterness, while this jasmin blossom effect returns retronasally. Quite elegant, too bad the overcarbonation hinders the drinkability a bit, because drinkability seems to be an important aspect of grisettes – but then these beers have not been brewed for over a century now, so who knows – and frankly, what is the point of this ‘style’ anyway…
Alengrin
added a new beer
1 Na Half 4 En Gizmo Is Hier
by
Dok Brewing Company
8 months ago