Alvinne Gaspar

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

Pours hazy amber with a huge white head. Earthy, herbal aroma with light citrus. Big, unappetizing plastic smell. A lot of that plastic is in the flavor, where it overpowers a yeasty, lightly noble-hoppy backbone. Somewhere between the ground and the glass, this one went horribly wrong.

11.2oz bottle. Pours orangish amber in color with full foamy white head which last thru-out. Aroma citrus and yeasty. Taste citrus, lite hops and yeasty and alcohol taste with clean finish.

when i opened this bottle i can on to rate beer to get an idea of what i was in for. the first thing i read was that Gaspers commercial description claims it’s one of the hoppiest beers in Belgium. I would feel much more comfortable if they removed that statement. when i see that i think of houblin choeffe and, sorry to say it’s not even close. please don’t misunderstand me, it does have a very formiddable hop character, but it’s got a much larger malt backbone. The hops definitely aid the belgiam yeast in giving this beer a little bit of a bit, but the malts really bring home the flavor profile. I taste hints of werthers caramel candies and even a hint of creme soda with a little honey. a fun beer to drink but please disregard the commercial description before popping the top.

Pours hazy/opaque golden copper with a huge sea-foamy off-white head. Aroma is a bit musty, with a bit of citrus, peppery spice, and earthy hop notes. Flavor is fruity and bitter. Grapefruit juice, pine, herbal/grassy notes, earth tones, and some pepper towards the finish. Palate is medium, slightly spicy, with a smooth mouth-feel, and some lingering bitterness. Very nice, and well-balanced, but all in all this might as well be an IPA.

Bottle: Hazy deep orange pour with a dense off-white head which is consistent. The aroma is strange. Has some damp carpet, dried leaves, lots of plastic/phenolic notes, very subtle herbal hops/tea. Fizzy carbonation in the mouth feel. The flavor is very spicy; and by that I mean peppery spicy. There’s lots of plastic in there too. Tons of phenols, with an herbal middle. Doesn’t have much hop character that it suggests on the label. There’s maybe a hint of thyme in the middle, with more plastic, and a very peppery spicy finish. Not very appetizing, but it gets credit for being unique and different.

Freshly imported 330mL bottle, drunk on 9/13/07
Absolutely massive off-white head is very stubborn in receding, leaving plentiful lacing on the glass. Mostly clear, leaving the sediment in bottle. Peach-apricot is the body, with very fine bubbles rising.
Assertively hoppy in the nose and you can well believe the 115 IBU claim. Impressive that they got this much aromatic bitterness out of the hops. Lush and juicy, with crisp, fresh-cut grass, dill, oregano and even some resin suggestions. Crackery, dry medium malts keep things on the dry side, but with warming and breathing, some pale malts deposit a fair amount of sweet dough and honey on the nose. Light perfume on the end, as the hops mix with some apparent alcohol vapors. Surprisingly clean yeast, though it’s probably all drowned out by the hops. Medium-high strength of aroma.
Lime and lilac are cut with lemon and orange bitterness, with a strong stripping effect on the palate, on the finish. Sweet, creamy vanilla-honey malts are supple and the fine carbonation gives a creaminess to the texture (along with some hop oiliness), but the sweetness seems a bit excessive as the beer wears on. Furthermore, caramel-like flavors disrupt what I’d like to see an all-pale-malt grainbill. Very low yeast apparency, surprisingly. The hops are fun, sure, but it’s too forceful and slightly messy here (and the alcohol dosent help). I’ll take quality (Orval, Christoffel Blonde, Burgerbrau Helles, etc...) over quantity (this) any day.

33 cl. bottle. Cloudy soiled amber color with a substantial and sturdy off-white head. A slight mustiness in the aroma (kind of uriney even), along with sharp grassy notes and cake. Prominent hop bitterness blankets a cookie/cake malt body. Earthy and spicy, leaving a resiny aftertaste. Love the overall concept of uberhopped Belgians, but this seems off-kilter, with its respective parts not playing nice with one another.

Aroma seemed malty, had a light smokiness, and some euro hoppiness. Flavor was pretty balanced and easy to drink but was a little weird. Not a bad beer though. I could probably drink it again.