Signature Ale

Brewed by De Proefbrouwerij
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Lochristi, Belgium

Pours a creamy yellow copper color w/ a tall, lasting froth. Superb head retention leaving a thin silky sheet with a few islands. Strong aromas of cave sulpher, brett, dried salted meat, and aged fruit salad. Full nectar w/ soft, creamy residuals effers. This beer is beautiful. Strong flavors yet perfectly balanced right off the bat. A solid fruit backbone w/ strict peachpit bittering that sets up shop early. An ingeniuos use of hops. Theres a defined earthy cave character that intrigues me. Nuances of wild apple, vanilla cream, citrus rind, mild banana spice. The finish is bittered better than well and leaves a mild asprin tingle. Signature is a very complex beer with a full range of aromas and flavors. A strong earthy character sets the stage with rainbow of supporting fruit nuances to make this a classic event never to be forgotten. This is the best beer I’ve had in a while. I highly recomend it.

An amazing collaboration from 2 completely different styles of brewing. Quite possibly the perfect beer for me. Cloudy dark golden with fluffy off-white head. Amazing aroma and taste. Fresh pine and floral hops, some citrus and the distinct taste of brett yeast. Well balanced and not too sweet. Quite simply, an insanely perfect mix of Belgian brewing and West coast hops. Re-rate from on tap at Uber 7/21 - I ain’t changing a thing....I love this beer.

Thanks to KingG for hooking me up with this 750ml. Strawberry-blonde beauty with a hint of honey color under a bright white head of fine bubbles and lace. Very delicate floral hoppy aroma, slight honeyed nose. Very fresh smelling. Biscuits and honey with spicy floral hop bitterness. Light, yet complex and refreshing with the hint of dry funk. Slightly sweet, but pretty clean finish. Dangerously drinkable. Very memorable.

I found this to be absolutely wonderful. A great spicy aroma and big bubbly head, the flavor is spicy and light. The finish is just a tad too dry but quite wonderful throughout. Even at 11 bucks a bottle, this is worth it.

Bottle shared with Mds, Hogtown Harry, Blankboy, and Gregclow, courtesy of one of you guys. Deep murky yellow, big fluffy white head. Aroma - huge floral, lemon, soft, yeast, stunning - a perfect aroma. taste - wow, floral, yeast, citrus. Nice dry yeasty finish. Aoft carbonated mouthfeel. A truly great beer.

In short: A very wild Saison-ish beer with a whole lot of juicy citrus hops. Fantastic
How: Bottle 750ml. Consumed when 6+ months old. (much better than the fresh bottle I tasted a few months ago
The look: partly cloudy golden body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: Nose has a strong farmhouse character along with a nice bouquet of wild flowers. Taste has juicy crisp caramel, flowers juice, juicy citrusy hops. The brett here is incredibly under control and mellowed out by the generous amount of juicy citrusy hops. The beer ends-up feeling more like a very wild Saison than a bretty beer. Body is pillowy, carbonation is relaxed. I had a tasting from a fresher bottle but the beer still had some residual sugar. Now nearly 6 months later the yeast ate it all and the beer is nearing perfection. With an aged bottle everything is so well integrated in this beer that it becomes really hard to dissect or categorise, this is really a tough one to figure out, just like most signatures.

Fantastic brew! I opened this beer last week for the third time and have cravings all the time. (Maybe that’s the alcoholism) Light in color, well balanced, banana, and other fruits are present. Tommie really shines thru this one.

Pretty well carbonated, the beer pours with over a three-finger thick, pale tan colored head even though it was done quite carefully. The head leaves patchy lacing patterns on the sides of the glass as it slowly recedes with a rocky, never quite disappearing surface of froth. A myriad of carbonation bubbles stream from the bottom of my tulip, all easily visible through the brilliantly clear, cranberry-tinged, copper colored beer. As I pour this beer I get a spicy note of white pepper. Upon further inspection the nose is amply hoppy, substantially spicy and even has a nice funky tartness to it. Aromatic notes of fresh cut weeds, orange zest, peaches, lychee, hay, ginger, orange zest, moldy cotton, honeysuckle, black pepper, lemon-thyme, clove, hints of urea and lots of other spicy phenolics and esters that keep that beer very interesting. This is definitely a beer that I can easily spend quite some time smelling and exploring, not even worrying about getting to the flavor exploration of this beer. The hops and Brettanomyces combine to create a really green, sharply spicy, savory herbal character. Really just a fantastically interesting and complex nose.

Fairly sweet, yet fairly well carbonated, which really helps to temper the residual malt sweetness. Overall this beer actually has a sort of dry flavor profile; the sweetness does play a role it is just that the carbonation and the astringently herbal / phenolic notes really help to balance and dry out the finish. Characteristically Amarillo hop flavors of lychee, apricot and sweet citrus peel mix with the malt sweetness to form a sort of orange-blossom / wild flower honey nectar character. Lightly tart, somehow this melds in with the fruity hop notes and becomes part of that flavor profile. Touches of funky Brett flavors mix with herbal hop notes in the finish to provide a mix of sharp flavors; Astringent herbs, a biting bitterness, spicy-not-quite plastic like phenolics, must cotton notes. There is a fair amount of body to this brew, it is still easy to drink, though I am not quite sure I would term this a quaffing brew.

At times the Amarillo hops are quite characteristically present, yet at other times the other competing flavors take over; the flavor and aroma of this beer are really quite interesting. What should be strongly competing flavor profiles from the hop and yeast character, somehow melds; sometimes the Brettanomyces dominates, at others the hops take over, but still at other times (and this last the most prevalent) this cacophonous chatter of competing flavors just melds into delicious, somehow well integrated whole that is just a pleasure to drink. As the beer warms up it starts to become a bit more tart, which actually accentuates more of a lemon zest character from the hop notes, but really all of the other hop notes are still noticeable.

This is an absolutely kick-ass brew; ample hops and Brett derived funk, how can I not just absolutely love this beer. A beer to satisfy the inner hop head and funk-o-phile at the same time. I am so glad I found this lone, discardedly placed, wayward bottle at Hi-Times. Perhaps not perfect in any category, but I am just really digging everything this beer has to offer right now. I think part of my enjoyment of this beer is that it reminds me of a hoppy, 100% Brett fermented, 5% alcohol beer that I brewed that was just phenomenal. My biggest regret is that I don’t have a couple of these to age.