Alvinne Balthazar

Brewed by Picobrouwerij Alvinne
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Heule, Belgium

inactive dark body, small tan head; somewhat cloying; vinous, orange, citrus spices; this reminds me of mimosa; meh.

Big gusher from the bottle, made quite a mess, only salvaged about half the bottle. Infected and a bit funky, but not an awful beer. Nose picks up a bit of medicinal character among the apple, peach, and spice. Prickly palate, lots of spice with a nutmeg and ginger like character. Interesting tartness in the finish, not sure what this was supposed to be, but I enjoyed it none the less.

Dark brown pour with a nose full of earthy malt and spices. Flavor is sour and spicy with tons of coriander and ginger. Overly spiced for my taste. Could’ve used a bit more subtlety. Not bad for a novelty, but probably won’t seek this one out again.

Hazy red-brown with a dense head. The aroma is slightly perfumed and sweet with notes of candy sugar, malt, spices and ginger. The flavour has sweetness and a light sourness and notes of malt, candy sugar, yeast, spices, ginger and it ends slightly tart/spicy. A bit “too much” IMO, a bit unbalanced.

THOUGHTS: Wow. From the aroma I wasn’t expecting the sour blast of flavor. This could just about be classified a sour ale. More sour did come out in the aroma as it warmed up a bit, but that initial sniff and sip shocked my taste buds. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown with slight orange highlights and body particles that were hard to see with the dark color of the beer. There was a small, off-white head that mostly diminished and left virtually no lacing. The aroma was spices, fruitiness like passion fruit and peaches (odd fruit for a beer this dark) and then sour fruit. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and light to moderately acidic; while the finish was lightly sweet and very sour with and average to long duration. This tasted like something I’ve had before, but not a beer. I have no clue what it might have been. It might not have even been a beverage. But there was spices, but mostly sour fruits kind of like sour peach. The light to medium body seemed a little too thin. It was dry with tingly carbonation and a dry and moderate to heavy astringent finish.

33cl, from De Hopduvel Gent, complex Winter brew, balanced, cloudy, rocky head, good brew

From a 330 ml bottle. Nearly half the bottle went all over my desk. I had let it sit outside of the fridge for about 30 minutes, obviously, that was about 30 minutes too long. Couldy dark, rusty brown with a now light tan and orange head. The aroma is bready and malty with some notes of the ginger. There is also a cocoa base under that. The taste has some light chocolate underlying everythign else. There is some cinnamon and also a mild citrus notes. Overall, a decent brew that is a little bit spicy.

Ruddy, deep brown in color with a small, diminishing head. Aromas of lavender, ginger, candy sugar, and honey. Juicy and lemony on the first bite, lots of sugar, then a souring drying finish. Odd beer.