6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottled. Amber colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is citrus, some yeast, mild spruce as well as some sweet malts and mild alcohol. Flavour is nice floral and grassy bitterness with mild fruits, some sweet malts, spices and a bit earthy notes.

6.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7

Bottle. Golden color. Citrus in the perfumed, almost soapy aroma. Citric hopbitter, perfumed soapy flavor. Too much soap and perfume, too little tropical fruit. Nevertheless quite drinkable.

6

Backlog

7.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Vintage bottle of an extinct beer, derived from Père Noël, bought at Fontana Drinks Center in Sint-Niklaas. I should know better than to buy a four year old bottle emphasizing its hop character, but I hadn’t tasted this edition before, so why not give it a try and see what happened in the past time... Thick and frothy, very thickly cobweb-lacing, egg-white, dense head over an almost clear, deep ’old gold’ coloured beer, becoming more and more clouded as the 75 cl bottle is progressively emptied. Aroma, rustic as it may be, shows no overpowering signs of oxidation at all and still breathes ’noble’ hops in spite of this bottle having been cellared for four years; I get impressions of freshly cut grass, soap, lots of red apple fraîcheur, straw, wet cardboard, dried flowers, some faint rusty iron still, old and dried white bread, dried apricot, jute, white pepper, a lot of dry hay, old cookies, gin, dried thyme, bitter honey. Fruity, still vivid onset of gooseberry, green apple and unripe plum, medium carbo tingling on the tongue with a minerally effect, slick and supple body. Pale malt sweetishness (a bit grainy) ensues with a slight caramelly accent, becoming more bready in the middle and leading to a drying finish where the graininess is reinforced by an earthy, deep, leafy hop bitterness and retronasal floral and grassy aromas. Alcohol remains almost completely hidden. I am truly surprised by how well this has stood the test of time: I take the risk to buy older bottles of beer regularly, but in the case of a 6% ABV Belgian blonde I normally have low expectations. In this particular case, those low expectations are unfounded: this still tastes fresh, quenching and appetizing - guess you have to be lucky in these kind of tradings. In fact, since it has no signs of the dreaded lightstruck effect, I like this version even more than a few of the later ones - who said a hop-forward beer cannot be cellared? It all depends on circumstances and sometimes sheer luck I suppose, but I sure enjoyed this one in spite of its age; I think an experience like this only accentuates the preserving properties of hops, the one thing they were meant to do ages ago. De Ranke remains a haven of good taste in an ever-changing beer landscape.

7.3

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle bought @ systembolaget. Pours tiny hazy golden with a big frothy goldenish white head that slowly dissipates while leaving some soapy lacing on the glass. Smell is phenolic, estery and herbal with banana bread, bubblegum, freshly cut grass, pine needles, peaches, apricots, pineapple, dry soil, white pepper corns, overripe plums, dry wood and overripe grapes. taste is tiny sweet, bitter, phenolic, estery and herbal with crackers, bubblegum, grapefruit rinds, freshly cut grass, pine needles, lemongrass, dry wood, dry soil, pepper corns, overripe plums and hints of sheet metal and banana bread. Mouthfeel is dry, astringent, tiny round and medium bodied. finish is bitter with banana bread, bubblegum, grass, pine, dry soil and black pepper corns. Quite good but I wish I had cracked this open fresher. --- Beer merged from original tick of Hop Harvest (2012) on 09 Dec 2013 at 21:27 - Score: 7

6.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottled, medium sample. Hazy golden color, medium head. Aroma of spicy and flowery hop, hint of spicy yeast, slight peppery. Medium bitterness. Ok stuff.

7.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Great fresh, hoppy, grassy, flowery and fruity beer. Real Belgian craftsmanship.

6.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Clear blond. Aroma has citrus and floral hops. Flavour is a bit soapy. Floral, dry, bitter hops.

7.3

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Blond yellow with white foam. Well balanced beer with a lot of taste. Aroma of grass, herbs and hops. Bitter and dry aftertaste

7.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Very hazy golden amber color. Very clean, lively, fruity nose of raspberries, cherries and peaches. The mouth feel is a bit heavy and I feel this beer could have been better at 5% as a Belgian Pale Ale. Dry and moderately aggressively bitter I overall enjoy, but just the mouth feel wasn’t quit what I wanted.