De Ranke XX Bitter

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

Poured a cloudy golden orange color with lots of carbonation bubbles. There was a creamy off-white head of about an inch and it slowly went down to just a hint of a head. To steal a line from wine, there were very nice legs to this beer. There was a good citrus aroma, but not too strong. There was a creamy texture to the beer and a crisp clean intial taste with lots of carbonation. A nice hop bite built on the finish. There was a sense on the bitterness like you get from the white of an orange rind. I thought I detected some orange in the flavor and a little bite of sweetness underneath the hops. Good refreshing beer

Bottle shared by Andreasen11. Pours a cloudy yellow colour with a medium white head. Aroma is hops, sweet ripe fruit and yeast. Flavour is hops, ripe fruit and apricot, with a long slightly bitter aftertaste.

Bottle. Dark yellow of color, hazy, with a large white head that slowly fades to a thin layer.Aroma is hops, with some fruit. Tastes og hop and fresh fruit, the aftertaste leave your mouth sort of cleansed. It is good, however not your classic belgian beer.

Bouteille de 11.2 oz. Arômes de levure belge. Robe dorée et légèrement trouble, belle petite mousse blanche, effervescence assez forte. Plutôt mince en bouche, un léger malt (sucre d’orge) est accompagné d’une touche de levure belge où on devine la présence de brettanomycètes. Le houblon crée une finale très amère pour une bière de ce type, mais le côté aromatique du houblon est plutôt absent. Intéressant, mais on est loin de l’équilibre d’une Orval.

On draft at Green Dragon. Extremely acidic, reminded me very much of grapefruit juice. Not much in the way of carbonation or head. Didn’t go down too well for me.

Draught at Akkurat (Stockholm). It poured a semi-hazy golden liquid with a nice ice cream foam, which left an excellent lacing. It smelled very weak with a hint of hops. The taste was dry, fresh and bitter. A bit dissapointing compared to its avg score.

If this is supposed to be an extra hoppy Orval clone, then by dammit I’ll treat it like one. Poured at Cellar temp into an Orval chalice. Pours with a cloudy orange color with a big head that fades quite a bit but leaves a good lace. There is a serious Champagne like effervescence that is very attractive. Aroma is nice, very floral with just the mildest barnyard funky notes and some nice herbal hops. The flavor does not pack the punch that I had expected or at least not in the way that I had expected it to. XX bitter is a good way to describe this beer because it is very bitter, it is almost an herbal bitterness I’m not sure which hops are used here but I would wager that they are English, this type of bitterness is not one I find in Czech, German, or American hoppy beers. This isn’t really as fruity as Orval but it certainly has a bit of orange peel and apple fruitiness, but these are fairly subdued. The flavor is all together very dry and the funkiness is fairly prevalent which mixes very well with the bitterness making this a pleasure to drink. I really think everything works together in this beer very much in the way that all the odd elements work together in Orval; I would love to try a fresher bottle of this as I think mine is about two years old.

Bottle. Aroma of hops. Dark yellow of color, hazy, with a large white head that quickly fades to a thin layer. Tastes very very hoppy, also in the aftertaste. I find this quite enjoyable at first, but finishing the bottle isn’t easy, You cannot really call this a subtle brew, but it’s not bad.