De Ranke XX Bitter

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

11.2 oz bottle poured into a Duvel tulip. Very pale peach-flesh color with a dense white head. Completely opaque with yeast and maybe some chill haze. Lots of filmy lacing. Aroma is gentle and subtle, with no real outstanding feature. Nice noble hop nose with spicy and mildly citric notes. Flavor is toasty and yeasty up front with some nice lemony hops and a medium bitterness at the back of the palate. Carbonation is very high, to the point where I think I’d enjoy it more after a few minutes of letting the Duvel etching force some of the CO2 out of solution. Lovely dry finish and good drinkability.

33 cl bottle. Cloudy golden color, thick white head. Aroma of pine and flowers. Bitter lemon taste, well-hopped, with bitter, dry finish. A classic.

Yeast and a highly floral hop profile are equally pronounced in the aroma. Pours a hazy yellow gold with orange sediment and an enormous freestanding white head. In the mouth, yeast and floral hops dominate, fruity and spicy elements also abound: banana, gumball, clove. Medium bodied, very creamy on the palate, long-lasting tingles.

Bottle, pours bright hazy yellow with a tall rocky white head. Smells like hop pellets. I have never smelled a beer that smells just like the hop pellets I use in homebrewing, but here it is. Smells so hoppy, and fresh with light evergreen notes. I’ve had my nose run from sniffing hop pellets before, and this beer did just that. Can’t wait to taste. Wow, this is good stuff. Starts kind of sour and then the bitterness hits. BAM!!!! In my face. Tons of bitter hop flavors. Very bitter and very good. Good lacing as it goes down. The finish is dry but the bitterness lingers for a good minute. It’s nice to have a beer that is so vibrant and refreshing yet extremely bitter. I really feel this beer can be summed up by one word, FRESH! This made my night!

On draught: Pours a bright golden colour with a medium sized white head. Aroma has pleasent hoppy notes with some noticeable spice as well. Grapefruit, strong pine scent and floral as well. Taste is hopped, slightly tart with generous amounts of hops- which definately suprised me (in a good way). Slightly sour finish, but all around pretty nicebeer.

<i>Bottle (330ml) courtesy of presario. Bottled in 2006.</i> Pours a hazy yellow-gold with a large lasting frothy white head. Yeasty, flowery aroma along with some lemon and a decent amount of grassy hops. Flavour is quite bitter, predominantly so, along with yeast, some spices, lemon and a bit of alcohol. Finish is a touch astringent. Gets more refreshing the more you drink it. Average to medium bodied. Pretty good and also interesting stuff.

Sampled on draft at Zeno’s in State College PA this beer poured a medium yellow color with a small white head. The aroma reminded me of sweettart candies. The flavor tasted like you took a couple of packs of sweettart candies and dissolved them in a glass of water. Thin and watery. It is an absolute disgrace to mention Orval in their description. Awful.

From a 750mL Bottle, Expiration Date 2/2013. Hazy, straw gold colored pour with a thick head of fine bubbled, brilliant white meringue. Strong herbal hop aromas with a backing of crackery malt. Notes of dandelions and arugala; this would pair wonderfully with a fresh, tart goat cheese. Soft, perfumey yeast esters with just a hint of dustiness. Pithy lemon rind. Light bodied, well carbonated mouthfeel with a cleansing dryness, yet soft texture. Crackery pilsner malt flavors up front followed by a wave of herbal hop bitterness. Bold and assertive, but hop characters are exceptionally clean. Hoppy enough to borderline on pine flavors in the finish, but all the while distinctly noble. Toward the finish, a mild brett presence provides a light dustiness, further enhancing the bitterness. Bold, interesting, complex beer that also doubles as a refreshing summer drinker. Certainly pilsner-esque, although to state the obvious, much hoppier. On that note, I’d love a touch more pils malt character, but this would mean simply dialing back the hops a bit and thereby ruining the point of this beer. That being said, the yeast characters really do more to enhance the bitterness of the beer than anything else, so in that sense, the concept is flawless.