De Ranke XX Bitter

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Belgian Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

On tap @ Dilly Deli. Pours a hazy golden color with a large fluffy lasting white head. The aroma is floral, grassy, citrus, dusty, and light malt. The flavor is more floral hops, grassy, mils sour funk, lightly fruity, and nice bitterness. Dry finish. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is better than I expected.

33cl bottle from Drankencentrale Rutseart. Clear golden color with medium white head and lacing. Dry and nice floral hops. Flavor is floral with a slight herballness, slight banana/bubblegum thing going on as well, just a slight bit bigger bitterness and hop flavor which really is a welcome addition to this style of beer, a slight earthy, graniness as well. Medium bodied with medium carb that settles to a creaminess. All around a very nice beer.

I am not a fan of hoppy beers. I am a fan of Belgium ales. This therefore meets somewhere in the middle. It is somewhat bitter, but not unbearable bitter.

Pours a full, deep golden color with an ice white head and an impressive lacing to it. Nice, clean citrus aroma. Don’t get the bretty flavor, but rather a little perfumey on the palate. It is crisp on the front of my tongue and malty in the back. Tasty but not quite right.

330 ml bottle. Hazy golden body with a medium white head. Aroma is fresh fruity, quite hoppy and some yeast. Flavor is rather light and sweet malt and quite bitter. A nice flavor but with a rather thin body and to much bitterness makes this an unbalanced beer imo.

12oz bottle with a best by date of January 2012 so I guess this is about two years old. Nice hazy yellow, billowy head. Smells like earthy hops and tastes like a nice belgian pale. Very easy to drink but when I think of hoppy I think of copious amounts of American hops. Overall, I liked this but I still would not call it hoppy by any stretch of the imagination. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 01-23-2009 16:15:15

Ah the Belgians...They definitely make the most aromatic beers in the world. They also manage to pack in the most flavor good or bad into their brew. I love the fact that with this beer I can smell its ingredients even though I may not know exactly what they are. Yes it is very hoppy in both aroma and taste. I think Ive found a good contender for Poperings Hommelbier as my favorite everyday Belgian beer.

On tap at the Brick Store poured into a tulip. Pours a bright hazy golden yellow with a big fluffy white head that lingers throughout the session leaving generous lacing. The smell starts with the lemon and floral hops but is fairly sweet with Belgian yeast and some sugar in the background. There are definitely some spices tickling the noses as well. The taste is less sweet than the aroma and brings more bitterness to the table. The floral hops are big up front with lemon zest and some grapefruit and the Belgian yeast and sweetness are much more in the background with the bitternes lingering through to the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and crisp but with the obvious bitterness and lots of carbonation. This is decent Belgian IPA, though there’s nothing really differentiating this one from the rest.