Poperings Hommelbier

Brewed by Van Eecke
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Poperinge-Watou, Belgium

Bottle, courtesy Kevin. Golden caramel pour with a big fluffy white head and very creamy lacing. Some fruit in the nose, apricot, clove, cinnamon. Flavors of peach and apricot, spices, wheat and hay. Starts off great, with an odd metallic finish. Drinkable. Not bad, just not great.

Pours ver hazy amber orange with greenish highlights, a 2 finger firm chunky beige head that has great retention and leaves nice lacing. Aroma is lemon, lots of lime, grainy malts, honey, yeasty bread rolls, and a fair amount of grass. Flavor is floral and citrus up front, yellow delicious apples, nice fruity sweetness, grainy and straw like malts, some yeast, a little grass and some beet-like sweetness. Finish is grainy, with floral and citrus hops in a great balance with a fairly slight bitterness and a lingering grass. Would make a great session if it were a bit cheaper and sold in packs. Either way, delicious stuff. Palate is sweet at first leading to a drying floury finish.

Pours a light amber color with a white head. Aroma is of citrus, lemon, floral hops, some candied sugar, and yeast. Flavor starts of with the citrus, lemon, and floral hops and finishes crisp with the yeast and only a hint of alcohol.

Draught at Kaisla a 0.4L glass. PAle creamy head (two fingers). Pale golden brown colour. Mild tnose with some hints of apples. Some metl in the taste. Clowes and koriander in the taste. Soft hoppiness. Some apples in the taste.

This is coincidentally fitting for today! =) Pours a darker see-thru orange/caramel color with lots of tiny bubbles and a medium thick white froth on top. Smells very sweet, doughy, honey, condensed-milk, lots of flowers. First taste is bitter, than quickly sweet and doughy before eventually turing metallic, toasty, sugary, and floral. Some hops sit on the tongue long after swallowing. Its ok... some strong flavors but not exactly interesting, maybe a little out of balance, too sweet. Weighty mouthful with soft sizzling carbonation.

Unclear yellow/golden look with a full and creamy white head that made it take 10 minutes to poor 25cl from the draft. The aromas that did make it through the thick thick foamy head had notes of yeasty esters, fresh bread, spices and wheat. Easy going for a 7.5% due to the suger contend and sweet malty flavor. For a hoppy belgian beer, i still dont sense many hops though, but still enjoyable.

Bottle 25cl. Pours a murky dark golden colour with good carbonation and a normal size head. Smell is very hoppy and bitter with a trace of spices there too. Taste is about the same, but very well balanced. Also can taste some of the yeast in it too.

It was a long wait to drink this one while I watched the brilliantly white, fizzy head slowly dissipate and collapse - my pour was a bit too strong and the foam actually rose out from the glass in a mesmerizingly cohesive peak. This beer smelled of a spring breeze, of dandelions, green flowers, ripening fruit, plus a touch of spice. The hops come through more as it warms and are especially present in the beer’s flavor. It tastes somewhat reminscent of an American pale ale with exception to the yeast. Bitter, slightly tart, with a spiciness that roams freely over your tastebuds. A grassy, carrot-like flavor lingers on. As for appearances, I am turned off by the sickening shade of hazy orange. Interesting though this beer is, I prefer De Ranke instead.