Alvinne Extra Restyled

Brewed by Picobrouwerij Alvinne
Style: Belgian Ale
Heule, Belgium

Pours a light hazy orange/golden with a HUGE billowing foamy off-white head. Funky Belgian aroma, grassy, spicy. Nice triple like flavors, candi sugar, lightly spiced, fruity, yeasty, good amount of noble. It is quite bready though, almost dortmunder like . Medium/full body, slightly milky, with corse carbonation.

Bottle from Wine & Cheese Place in (near) St. Louis, MO. What a gusher. Took two glasses to absorb it. Pours hazy light amber with a truly humongous light bubbly off-white head. Aromas include a lot of yeast, some citrus, and a little malt. Darn’d if it don’t seem a bit soapy. So what aroma soap, not sure. Medium body with rather smooth carbonation. Flavor is really spicy hop over malt. Rather peppery. Something like grapefruit rind. Slight burn down the gullet. This one is just so out of control. A bit of barnyard seems to be present. An exciting adventure from start to finish. Almost genteel after it settles down for awhile. Good ale. Really.

Tap. Yeast and citrus dominate, with a good tangy hop presence. Still, this beer maintains a great deal of its rustic character and is very charming as a Belgian Ale. Hay, spice, woods, and a little leather. Finish is musky.

Bottled, this was a very bad gusher even though it was right out of the fridge. After pouring half the bottle, the head continued to flow from the bottle. So a huge white head toppped a cloudy orange godl body. The aroma was dry with some grapefruit and hay. There was also some fresh cut wood. The taste had some fresh wood and hints of grpaefruit in the finish. A light and refreshing mouthfeel. Decent, but nothing special.

Tap at Ginger Man. Aroma yeasty, light fruits, hop spice, lemon. No surprises in the flavor. Good, well-made beer, but didn’t inspire me.

On tap at the Gingerman. Pours a cloudy light orange with no real head. Aroma of light spices and light sourness. Flavor is light hoppy sourness, melon rind, slight honey. Pretty typical Belgian ale. Just ok for me.

My Bottom Line:
An evocative osmosis of citrusy, herbal hoppiness and spicy yeast garnishes the slender cereal sweetness of this fantastically drinkable and personable hopped-up Belgian Ale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A creamy sheet of foam tops the cloudy beige golden.
-The finishing is long but not bracing, recalling most of the hop flavors and focusing a tad more on their coniferous resinous aspect.
-The mouthfeel is pillowy, made of ample carbonation and a healthy body.
-The yeast pour adds doughy aromas and flavors which somewhat muddle the first half of the flavor profile, but it cannot overcome the marvelous hop finish.
-This is in the same recipe and quality family as Taras Boulba, Zinne Bir, Rulles Estivale, etc. Me likey a lot!

Bottles; best before April 2010.

A hazy golden colored beer, with a huge white foamed head. the aroma is hoppy and grassy, with some spices and fruity sweets. The taste is nice bitter, with fruits like citrus and orange. A little spicey and flowery in the back. A very good refreshing, hoppy beer.