Alengrin
Ghent, Belgium 🇧🇪 MemberOptions
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Alengrin
updated a beer:
Smash Ultra
brewed by Brasserie {C}
1 month ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6
The blonde in this Eifel brand, named after the Belgian Eifel, in which its birth town of Büllingen - a beautiful place by the way, now that I have seen it - is situated. Vichy bottle from a local Delhaize supermarket in the same region (Amel I believe). Snow white, towering high, foamy, large-bubbled, slowly receding head over an initially clear, warm golden blonde robe with vague khaki tinge and fierce, almost champagne-like sparkling, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of dry cereals, iron (confirmed by the 'hand test'!), Conference pear, green banana, white peach, vague soapy note (coriander no doubt), sawdust, clove, apple peel, cooked turnip, straw, old newspapers. Fruity onset but restrained in sweetness, green pear and green banana, fizzy carbonation; smooth cereally core, a bit grainy even and fairly low in residual sweetness, a dryish character continued in a floral hop bitter note, adorned with a touch of (phenolic) clove, a vague whiff of (added) coriander and ongoing pale malty white-breadiness. An 'allemansvriend' as they say in Dutch: completely middle of the road, boring and generic even for this blandest of classic Belgian ale styles. Too bland to distinguish itself - but doubtlessly serving its purpose on a local level.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Brune from Eifel Craft Beer - Domaine Berterath 1 month ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
The dubbel in this Eifel series, at least conceived at Büllingen in the German speaking part of Belgium, but apparently executed by Van Den Bossche in Flanders. Large-bubbled, yellow-beige, irregularly shaped, opening head over a misty caramel brown robe with ruddy glow. Aroma of red apple slices, brown bread, pear, old raisins, wet caramel, clove, dry autumn leaves, touch wodka, tea. Sweetish, fruity onset, hinting at pear and medlar but also showing this somewhat 'sharper' blueberry-like note; fizzy carb, smooth body. Caramelly core, brown bread too, slick and clean, with light (phenolic) spicy notes of clove and rosemary, paired with herbal hops adding a bittering touch - but malt sweetness remains the main factor. Simple and a bit rough around the edges, but decent and effective if you are after a typical Belgian dubbel.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
IPA hopped with two (very) classic American hop varieties (Cascade and Columbus) on the one hand and two New Zealand varieties (Motueka and Rakau) on the other hand - but that is somehow of less importance here: more significantly, Lallemand's Aurora yeast strain was used to ferment it, a strain intended to ferment at somewhat cooler temperatures, allowing for higher alcohol volumes and producing little esters that would otherwise get in the way of the hop aromas. Dok, which has worked with these innovative Lallemand yeasts before, describes this particular one as a "northern IPA", which is closely associated with this Aurora yeast strain and aims to compromise between the aromatic power of hazy IPAs and the cleanness and bitterness of West Coast IPAs - but this effect has been achieved before in what was called "mountain IPAs", and in a certain sense has become very common, as so many present-day European and American IPAs hover between both extremes some way or another. Anyway, on to the can, purchased at the Delhaize supermarket at the Sterre in Ghent. Thick and frothy, snow white, cobweb-lacing, rather coarse and large-bubbled but very stable head on a misty pale yellow blonde robe with greenish tinge and tiny, but numerous bubbles rising up in the middle. Aroma of fresh pine needles or spruce tips, granadilla, lemon thyme, lime leaf, lemon blossom, carambola, jasmin and other subtropical flowers, spice crackers, freshly cut agave, green kiwi, bath foam, white bread. Crisp, sweetish onset, carambola, rambutan, pepino and kumquat impressions, slight sourishness also from the lively carbonation, slick mouthfeel but not very oily like most West Coast IPAs; smooth white-bready core under and through brightly aromatic 'yellow-green' hoppiness, bringing back the piney, succulent plant and flowery aromas but not branching into those typically sweet tropical fruit scents you get in a typical hazy IPA. Bitterness is crisp and peppery, matching this 'yellow-green', cactus- and spruce-like aromatic profile very well; it does seem to last a bit longer than in NEIPA and its ilk so I get the idea of creating something in between 'eastern' and 'western' IPA extremes and this idea has been executed very well here. Nevertheless, I maintain that 'in-between IPAs' are nothing new - in fact there is a vast ocean of them throughout the Western World now, of which the vast majority simply refers to itself as 'IPA' without specifications like 'northern' (or 'mountain'). The ultimate goal of this Aurora yeast strain therefore escapes me a bit - but I can imagine it is a nice new gimmick for brewers, and I conclude that Dok made a really fine IPA here of whatever kind (bearing in mind that creating new IPA variants has been a commercially driven trend in the craft beer world for many years and has apparently still not ceased today...). Surely one of my personal favourites among Dok's many, many IPAs so far (though I lost track of them a bit, to be honest).
Alengrin
updated a beer:
Don't Mention the Yeast
brewed by Dok Brewing Company
1 month ago
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Scotch from Belgium Peak Beer 1 month ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Old-fashioned Scotch, once very popular in Belgium, is still alive especially in Wallonia it seems (think of Silly Scotch and all its marvellous variants) - this one coming from what is literally the highest brewery in the country. Thick and frothy, yellowish pale beige, irregularly shaped, large-bubbled but well-retaining head, lightly misty caramel brown robe with vermillion glow. Aroma of caramel candy, butterscotch, 'Koetjesreep', brown bread, toasted chestnuts, dried thyme, clove, dried cranberries, vague cinnamon, baked banana, pear syrup, hint of nutmeg. Sweetish onset, dried-fruity with notes of pear, dates and cranberry jam, medium carbonated with very smooth, slick mouthfeel; caramelly core, brown-bready too with a touch of old ground hazelnuts. Herbal, tea-ish hops in the finish accentuating the toasty side of the malt profile, but this basic caramel sweetness remains dominant; bready yeasty effects, clove-like phenols and warming, 'jenever'-like alcohol further complement the finish. Decent example of its style, meets expectations without exceeding them in any way.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed IPA from Belgium Peak Beer 1 month ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Peak's attempt at IPA, dry-hopped with Simcoe and Idaho-7; longneck bottle from a local supermarket in Ostbelgien. Egg-white, uneven-bubbled, shred-lacing, thick and frothy head on a hazy peach blonde robe with pale orange glow. Aroma of paprika powder, rusk, fried onion somewhere, dry strawbales, old orange zest, wet sand, dust, dandelion, dried out carrot. Cleanish, dryish onset, low in sugars but also low in esters (some baked banana and dried pumpkin notes perhaps), lively carbonated with smooth, somewhat oily mouthfeel; rusk- and thinly biscuit-like maltiness under a long peppery hop bitterness bringing aspects of old dried citrus peel, lemon thyme and paprika powder, but hardly any of the vibrant oniony, citric or tropical sensations one can and should expect from IPA nowadays - especially when Simcoe and Idaho-7 are at play. Dry, clean and sleek but lacking in hop aromatics - another very mediocre Belgian IPA I guess, but far from undrinkable.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Christmas from Belgium Peak Beer 1 month ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
The regular blonde from this brewery, the highest one in Belgium in the literal sense of the word, pimped for Christmas by adding speculoos to the brewing kettle - what can go wrong... Longneck bottle from the Carrefour supermarket in Bütgenbach. Initially closed but rather thin, off-white, sparsely lacing, even-bubbled, slowly breaking head on an initially near-clear, orange blonde robe with amberish tinge and lots of visible sparkling rushing upwards, turning into an ugly, murky dark ochre-beige with sediment. Very underwhelming aroma of - alas - a whole lot of DMS (overcooked green cabbage or broccoli), something I am very sensitive to, next to weak impressions of green pear, bread crust, clove, damp earth, cooked apple without the sweetness, cooked turnip. Sweetish onset, fruity, notes of again cooked apple and pear, slight plum perhaps, sharpish but fine-bubbled carbonation, slick and rather thin mouthfeel (for ABV) with a somewhat 'watery' side effect, weirdly; cereally and porridge-like malts, slender and rather crude, vaguely sweet, bready and eventually paired with phenolic clove-like spiciness, a late but effective, somewhat leafy hop bitter note and lingering earthiness from dead yeast and proteins. The DMS returns retronasally but has fortunately faded a bit by then - but what is dramatically lacking at least in my sample, is any reference at all to 'speculoos': there is no cookie sweetness, no ethereal spiciness, nothing. Upon checking, it is not mentioned on the label either, so maybe I got yet another version, or perhaps even a mislabelled bottle? In any case: this is far below festive for a Christmas beer if it is indeed intended as such and technically flawed, with an unpleasant muddy appearance, lack of head retention (in spite of good carbonation) and very bland in both aroma and taste. Below par even compared with most other beers from this brewery, but I may have stumbled upon a flawed sample, who knows...
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Amber from 96 Beer Eastbelgium 1 month ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
One of the original two beers - meanwhile joined by an IPA - by this small 'bierfirma' in the German speaking part of Belgium, brewing at a nearby microbrewery which I guess is equally obscure to most non-regional beer drinkers as this bierfirma itself. Longneck bottle from a local supermarket in Amel. Thin and open, off-white, tiny-bubbled ring of foam over a near-hazy, peach blonde robe with pale orange glow (but not truly amber). Aroma of old dried orange peel, rusk, dry biscuit, dried thyme, shrivelled autumn apples, radish peel, touch of sulphur. Crisp, lightly sweetish onset, rather clean apart from vague apple peel and kumquat notes, moderately carbonated with slick mouthfeel; biscuity, rusk-like maltiness, cereally in their core with a herbal, thyme-like hop bitter note on top as well as a retronasal whiff of clove-like phenols. The hop bitterness retains balance with the sweetishness of the malts so everything ends pleasantly harmonious, if clean and sleek. Walloon 'ambrée' but a bit cleaner and less yeasty than most of its kind, and in that sense very close to the old 'spéciale belge'.