Totally ‘proper British bitter’ places expected dewy peat mossing, dry tea-leafed tobacco roast and reedy hop resins above holiday-styled fruitcake subtlety. Raw-honeyed astringency and fungi-like earthiness greet latent fig-dried sultana grape tartness.
Perfectly sessionable off-dry English bitter layers spring-watered earthen minerality across dewy peat moss, crisp tobacco roast, reedy-hopped foliage and poppy-seeded rye grains. Herbal black tea notion contrasts lightly caramel-toasted backend.
Easygoing Belgian dark ale crowds sweet cotton-candied entry with banana-bruised coriander spicing and doughy sugar breading. Although astringent ethanol burn overrides wispy dried fruiting, latent raisin-grape-cherry undertones enrich its caramelized backend.
Well-attenuated Belgian strong dark ale transitions candi-sugared Belgian yeast sweetness and honey-spiced mead spree to dry red wine acridity. Fructose black cherry, sultana grape, bruised banana and green raisin sugaring contrasts raspberry-soured rhubarb pie tartness. Light bourbon, burgundy, port and brandy undertones fortify tannic back end.
Drab Belgian pale ale allows carbolic fizz to undermine yellow-fruited spicing and butterscotch malting, depleting its honeyed wheat base. Lemony yellow grapefruit tartness contrasts sweet banana-bruised vanilla creaming. Mild saffron-honeysuckle spicing engulfs ancillary green grape tannins. Nowhere near as ghoulish as its blood-sucking imagery would suggest.
Drab spring-watered light pilsner compromises cotton-candied caramel sugaring, sweet corn incentive and soft-toned grassy hop crisping with raw-honeyed mineral grain astringency. Beneath, murky lemon-soured spritz contrasts doughy white bread sweetness. Passive blue-collar fare for indiscriminate tastes.
Supposedly Belgium’s best selling beer, this sessionable pale lager maintains a thrifty flavor profile but lacks overall oomph. Indistinct Belgian yeast candi-sugaring affects sugary corn cereal frontage, allowing phenol hop acridity as well as barnyard-dried alfalfa, wild oats and rye graining to overrun soft sourdough spine. Faux gluten-free aridity depletes scurried sweetness.
Commonplace moderate Dutch pils relegates musky grain-husked minerality to pungent hop-embittered skunking. Not far removed from Heineken, only lighter and less evolved taste-wise, its white-breaded pale malt spine dissolves quickly.
Well-rounded medium body brings lively floral-hopped citrus bouquet to caramel-toasted cookie dough sweetness and wispy almond-pecan pleasantries. Latent piney spruce sapping deepens tangy apple, peach, pineapple, tangerine and grapefruit juicing.
Directionless mishmash lacks clear identity but doesn’t necessarily suck. Despite having its hybridized light chili peppering depleted by dirty earthiness, pesky maple-sugared chocolate malting and subsumed raisin-prune conflux sweeten honeyed pumpernickel spine. A certain acridity beckons at the murkily mocha-derived finish.
Watered-down autumnal moderation brings desolate maple-sugared caramel roast and honeyed cereal graining to dry phenol-spiced leafy hop setting. Subtle orange marmalade fluff disintegrated by dull phenol spicing and mild skunked musk.
‘Potent’ Copenhagen gypsy brew (crafted in Belgium) could be mistaken for a fine IPA due to its luscious piney-hopped fruiting and crisply clean-watered briskness. Tropical mango-melon-canteloupe-kiwi sweetness, juicy apple-peach-cherry tang and candied pineapple-grapefruit sugaring contrast spruce-tipped orange rind bittering. Pine nut, almond, fennel and cannibis undertones flutter beneath rich honeyed molasses spine.