Score
7.35
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Bottle 33cl.@home poured into a shaker. Hazy pale amber colour, huge rocky off-white head, good retention, heavy lacing. Aroma sweet malt, orange, mango, caramel, pine resin. Taste medium sweet and bitter, malty, orange, some caramel, piney. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation, dry sweetbitter aftertaste, malty notes, light orange pith, good (but not a real Speciale Belge considering the hops).
33cl bottle from Etre Gourmet web shop. F: big, creamy, tan, very long lasting. C: dark coppery, hazy. A: orange, grapefruits, onion effect, pine, bit caramel, melon, bit banana, herbal touch. T: medium malty base, nice fruity, melon, bit banana, red apples, orange, bit onion effect, caramel, bit nutty, toast, nice hoppy decent bitterness, medium carbonation, very nice, fully enjoyed.
330 ml. bottle. BBF 18/06/2021. Dark honey amber, creamy beige head. Nose is orange low bitter, vanilla, dried fruit, mango, caramel, very faint thinner metal. Lively body, slightly thin, bit higher carbonation but nice dried fruit, orange, vanilla, caramel, low sugar, faint grain, hint alcohol, slightly thin but lots of pleasant notes, quite nice.
Light brown colour with lasting head. Aroma and flavour have plenty of tropical fruit hop notes that dominate quite strongly. A nice beer but Speciale Belge is not better with Citra and Simcoe. Would love to see this with old world hops.
Draft @ BBP Taproom. Cuivre, col crémeux blanc-cassé. ArÎme au nez malté, accent belge, caramel, fin cristal voire un peu de Vienna? pas mal d'agrumes Palais est plaisant sur une base de levure belge, malt grillé, note d'amande et biscuité, qcq esters belges, houblonné sur le résineux, qcq agrumes et note de mandarine.
One of six 'noble gas-themed' beers by Siphon, each one of them a collaboration with two other breweries that often seem to lie far apart from each other in terms of style - in this case old and traditional De Ryck from Belgium and modern 'craft brewing' Kaapse from the Netherlands. Intended as a 'spéciale belge' but with New World (style) hops, so effectively turned into a Belgian IPA of sorts, I suppose. Very thick and foamy, egg-white, densely frothy, tightly paper-lacing, stable head on an initially lightly hazy, deep coppery-orange, pure amber coloured beer, turning cloudy with sediment. Aroma of frying onion (Simcoe!), toasted peanuts, pink grapefruit, kumquat, bread crust, dried orange peel, leek soup, pumpkin seeds, bitter honey, ground hazelnuts, unripe peach, roasted carrots, some ripe melon (probably the Mandarina Bavaria speaking) and banana peel in the background. Crisp, fruity onset in a 'focused' kind of way, hinting at apricot, green melon, red apple and a touch of banana, sweetish but not overly so, with a light sourish edge enhanced by lively, minerally, 'cristalline' carbonation fit for the intended style; supple, smooth peanutty and medium toasted-bready malt profile, dryish with a soft and thin bitterish edge, feeling quite full; growing hop character from the middle onwards, providing an elegantly fruity and floral aroma retronasally (orange peel, kumquat, sweet onion, touch of melon) as well as an adequate, rooty, spicy, long-stretching, drying bitterness, a tad resinous and quinine-ish in the end but nowhere too harsh, matching very well with the toasty-bitterish malt character. Some spicy phenols and lingering fruity esters in the end, but well-behaved, as an elegant reminder of the 'Belgian' basic character of the beer. Indeed, 'pimping' a Belgian amber with modern fruity hop varieties results in what very typically has a 'Belgian IPA' character: a sort of hybrid between old Belgian traditions on the one hand and postmodern American craft brewing, so to speak. Balanced, expressive, quenching, focused and intelligent: this is a more than decent beer in all respects. I have yet to taste four more of these 'noble gas' beers but after two of them, I already dare to conclude that this will be an interesting ride: apparently Siphon needed a 'boost' from an eclectic bunch of experienced, well versed breweries to achieve this level of quality - not that their 'own' range is rubbish of course, far from it, but so far these 'noble gas' beers - for me - exceed their average level of quality. This is a series I want to - no, must - complete.
Bottle from Geers. Dark brown colour, creamy foam. Nose of caramel, dried fruit, hops. Taste is dry and hoppy along with sweet hints of caramel. Well balanced. Good!
29 June 2019. At Siphon 3d Birthday Party, Damme. Cheers to Anke, Erwin & Ama Deke! Hazy dark golden-amber with a small, slowly thinning, off-white head. Aroma of red apple, pink grapefruit, toasted white bread, caramel, mango, plum, earth. Taste is light to medium fruity sweet, notes of ripe apple, pear & plum on consistent bready maltiness; the core is hoppy bitter, offering grapefruit, mango & a herbal touch. Dry, bitter, earthy hoppy finish, yet some ripe fruit, bread & dough linger. Medium body, creamy texture, fizzy carbonation. Certainly enjoyable as a modern style Spéciale Belge.
Imported from my RateBeer account as Siphon / De Ryck / Kaapse Brouwers â â Argon (by Siphon Brewing):
Aroma: 9/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 16/20, MyTotalScore: 4/5
18/VII/19 - 33cl bottle from the brewery @ Gents Bierfestival Biermeesters Meeting (home), BB: 18/VII/21 - (2019-1048) Thanks to Steven L. for sharing the bottle!
Clear orange beer, big irregular creamy beige head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: sweet, malty, lots of caramel alcohol, some ripe banana, vanilla, lots of dried fruits, sugary impression. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, alcohol touch, very malty, grains. Aftertaste: sugary, vanilla, caramel, banana touch, pretty bitter, fruity, some dried fruits, some orange peel, good stuff, nice!
Thick yellow head, pitting in over lively carbonated foxy red-orange beer. Caramel immediately upon opening; then lots of citrussy hops, no particularily 'Belge'. Even a tad cheesy. Caramel malts returnng, herbs & weeds. Medium bitter, first citrussy, then herbal-vegetal, finishing almost harsh, if never very bitter. Caramel/malts constantly underneath. Dry hopsacks retronasal. Balance results in a herbal-weedy character. Quite slick, very slightly sticky; lively carbonation; velvety texture. Better than your average 'Spéciale Belge'... but Citra, Simcoe and Mandarina hopping a Belgian ale? LOL!