De Ranke XX Bitter

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

RATING # 400. Pours with a great thick white head, with large bubbles. Aroma is body odor, were talking straight armpits here. Flavor is bitter, but nicely bready too, good yeasty flavor.

A wonderful beer. Basically tasted like a belgian IPA. Very drinkable and smooth but ccertainly full bodied.

BCA (from Bitter Virtue, drank in the month of bottling). Fabulous hoppy aroma - citiric marmaladey with a resiny undertone. Slightly sweet aroma which I cannot place I’ll have to get a few more bottles to try and identify it! At first the bitterness seems quite mild - it does build to a more tolerable level but never gets out of hand. Dry finish with dusty hop flavours and haunting flavour of the unidentifiable taste. I think the comparisons with Orval are unfounded, quite simply this is a different beer with different intentions and none of the subtelties.

Rerate. 11.2oz bottle notched Best Before April 2010. Pours a hazy golden with a fading 1 1/2 finger white head. Aroma has a good amount of spicy dusty and earthy hops, some yeast, lemon and orange. There is a fair amount more bitterness in this compared to a lot of Belgians. Flavor is much the same with a tinge of orange hard candy. Lingering bitter finish.Carbonation is fairly low, light to medium bodied. Hmmm, I was actually expecting to rate this a fair amount higher--I guess not. Old rating follows.11.2 oz. bottle--best by July ’09.Pours a hazy light golden with a moderate sized white head, which quickly dissipates. Nose is of citrus hops and yeast. It is fairly hoppy, but not "remarkably hoppy." Also some spices and pepper. Aftertaste of bitter mustiness. Pretty good, but not as phenomenal as the ratings. 7-3-6-3-14

Golden in color with a nice fluffy head. Takes awhile to go back down. Aroma is white pepper, hops, citrus and some sweet fruit I can’t pinpoint. Apricot in the flavor with hops (although not as bitter as you’d think with a tagline of Hoppiest Beer in Europe) and carbonation. Very drinkable and very enjoyable.

Finally, hops! This pours a hazy yellowish amber with a light gray hue. The nose is piney and lightly citric. The first taste confirms this evidence of strong hops and it arrives with a sharp, ruby-red grapefruit tinge on the back of the tongue. This is followed soonafter by a light graininess and hints of yeast. The tastes end with a lengthy, trailing bitterness that dries the tonge and confirms my belief that I have finally found a great, hoppy Continental brew.

poured out a hazy/cloudy light golden color with a nice fluffy white head that dissipated quicly with great lacing. aromas consisted of flowers, grapefruit, tons of citrus, flowers, and some clove. very intense aromas. mouthfeel was farity light. flavors consisted of once again, tons of yeast, tonst of citrus, some clove, maybe and orange peel or two. also very flowery and herbal. very nice finish, sharp/clean/smooth. an absolutely amazing beer! a great job by Brouwerij De Ranke.

Once the cork is removed the bottle reeks of hops, yeast, and little else. The modest head is not especialy hoppy but displays a fine, even methode champagnoise carbonation. Medium pale malt body, pronounced yeast, and pronounced Tettnanger dry hops carry the palate, but the flavors do not quite synergize. This beer does not resemble Orval as much as a ultra-hopped saison. Even though we Americans produce many hoppy ales, XX Bitter has a hop character unlike anything else.