Hello friends!
Are you ready?
Today, the next issue of the heading "Straight from Belgium".
And I will introduce you
beer from the brewery
Tall Poppy Brewing company.
We taste three beers of this very young brewery:
Hoppy Farmhouse Ale,
Cocoa-infused brown porter-ish
and Wee Heavy.
The Tall Poppy brewery
was opened in September this year in the village of Edegem
in the province of Antwerp.
Its founder Jo Olluyn
is a bioengineer in the specialty.
His main job is in one of the biggest players in Belgium
in the field of digital business integration,
the company Cronos,
where he takes a room for his brewery -
- but why go far??
It is convenient when both work is within walking distance.
Before the founding of his own brewery,
he experimented for about five years at home.
What does the brewer say about his brewery?
We brew beer(°). Plain and simple.
Even if none of our beers are ever plain.
Or simple.
We brew flavourful beers,
unhindered
by convention or preconception.
We brew interesting beers.
Beer besides the obvious - this is the slogan of the brewery.
Don't let our minuscule size fool you:
we take our beers very seriously.
Because we believe beer to be more than just beer,
we strive to bring together both beer and the people who love drinking it.
The first beer that we will try today is
Dopefish Hoppy Farmhouse Ale -
amber farm ale.
In other words - it's hopped Saison.
It consists of a blend of five malts:
Pale, Oat malt, Cara gold, Cara Arôme and Black.
And also three hops: American Citra and Azacca, and Australian Vic Secret.
Yeast was used: Mangrove Jack M29 - French Saison
Dopefish is a fictional fish from the computer game of the 90s of the last century,
invented by Tom Hall,
which became "the second of the most stupidest creatures in the universe."
After all, she just did, so it ate everything that moves.
The alcohol content in it is 5.4%
Initial wort density - not specified
Bitterness - 24 IBU units
In the composition: water, barley malt, oat malt, hops, sugar, yeast.
Bottle capacity 0.33, dark glass.
On the label: The image of that tall poppy.
All varieties have a similar design. The difference
is only in the name of the variety and the color of the flower itself.
In this case it is red,
the same color is the bottle cap.
also indicate the main characteristics of beer
the composition in several languages ​​is indicated, the address of the brewery
By the way, the period of realization of beer is 2 years.
The slogan of the brewery in its inverted form is
Beer besides the obvious
The quote of the American writer Helen Keller -
«Science may have found a cure for most evils;
but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all --
the apathy of human beings.»
and..."Swim swim hungry" - The Dopfish lives.
We try.
Beer is orange, light amber.
With a fairly intense carbonization.
With a good, high foam cap,
of beige color.
It is stable.
The beer is foggy.
Look at how it looks in the glass.
And we will try.
Aroma: quite intense, with a pronounced
malt profile,
light hop-like herbal tones, and
classic Belgian yeast phenols
of a spicy and fruit character -
here associations with apricot and citrus
(orange, lemon).
Taste:
hop bitterness is quite high,
which is actually permissible for Saison,
it is floral, herbal.
Yet this is Hoppy Farmhouse Ale -
that is hopped.
Here, orange peel, lemon, tropical fruits
(mango, pineapple),
coniferous associations,
some earthiness.
The malt base does not dominate at all,
it is in good balance with the hop component.
Fruit-spicy yeast background
supplements and compensates for this balance.
The aftertaste is lasting,
in it the bitterness continues its development and reaches the culmination,
slowly subsides in complete dryness
with peppery notes
Darker versions of Saison,
as in our case, usually carry an additional malt character.
There is practically no such thing here, which I really like.
The main distinctive characteristics of the style are:
refreshing profile,
good fermentation and hop character,
high carbonation with effervescent character,
and pronounced strong character of yeast.
And here everything is at a good level.
The next beer is Cocoa-infused brown porter-ish -
apparently it's an American-style porter with the addition of cocoa.
It is called AND THEN STUFF HAPPENS
Here is a blend of six malts:
Pale, Café light, Chocolate, Cara gold, Brown and Black.
And three hops: the American Warrior and the Australian Vic Secret and Enigma.
Yeast was used: Mangrove Jack M15 - Empire Ale
The alcohol content in it is 5.5%
Initial wort density - not specified
Bitterness - 45 units of IBU
In the composition: water, barley malt, wheat malt, hops, yeast, sugar, cocoa
(powder and crushed beans).
Bottle capacity 0.33
dark glass.
On the label, everything is the same,
only the flower is already blue, like the cap.
Also on the label are some philosophical reflections on the title,
drawing parallels with the writing of some stories.
The text is very much, I did not quite understand the essence,
so I will not go into detail.
So, for a note, I will clarify that we are dealing with ground fermented beer.
We try.
Well, you actually saw what happened.
Now we will try to fill the glass.
Violent foaming.
Beer is dark brown in color.
With a very high and stable foam cap.
I just can not curb it.
Foam is a heterogeneous structure, beige in color.
That's how it looks in the glass. Let's try.
Aroma: soft,
fried malt, with some fruity and resinous tones,
with cocoa, coffee and chocolate notes,
with hints of tobacco leaves.
Taste: it continues the aroma of chocolate-coffee malt with softness,
with fried nuances.
Here, associations with wood bark,
dry leaves of tobacco,
licorice, bitter black chocolate,
cold grain coffee.
Hop bitterness is well expressed and carries herbal and earthy associations.
Good balance.
Malt and hops do not conflict.
The body is not very dense, with a soft creamy texture.
In a smooth aftertaste, coffee tones are more pronounced.
Gradually everything goes to dryness.
Summarize.
Porter with a complex and neat malt character
of dark malts.
The style is still closer to the American porter.
The presence of beans in the cocoa composition, somehow not particularly
vividly,
is absorbed by a
rich malt blend.
Over the frothy cap still need to work.
Something must be done with this excessive carbonization.
When opening a "rested bottle" this should not be.
Well, on the taste qualities - a pretty decent American style porter.
Next we taste Wee Heavy
under the name THROUGH BREW
The so-called "too heavy" Scottish ale,
with a small addition of Glen Moray whiskey
from the Speyside region and a certain bourbon.
Here is a blend of two malts:
Pale and Roasted barley.
And one hop: the traditional English East Kent Goldings.
Yeast: Wyeast 1728 - Edinburgh
The alcohol content in it is 8.2%
Initial wort density - not specified
Bitterness is only 20 units of IBU.
In the composition: water, barley malt, barley, hops, yeast, sugar, whiskey.
Bottle capacity 0.33, dark glass.
The label is typical,
but with a green flower and a cap.
Also on the label are the traditional philosophical arguments of the brewer,
this time on the subject of conversations with his "inner Viking",
which inspired him to create this drink.
From the interesting, here the implementation period of the whole 4 years.
We try.
The color is dark brown.
Bronze at the skylight.
Carbonation, apparently, is calm.
Foam hat is practically absent.
There is a certain rim of small bubbles.
Along the perimeter of the glass.
That's how it looks in the glass. Let's try.
Aroma: caramel malt, with notes of prunes and raisins,
figs and bananas,
tones of brown sugar,
nuances of whiskey and some damp.
Taste:
caramel-malt sweetness is basically
strong enough,
dominating in balance,
then there are associations with figs,
prunes and bananas,
nut and wood tones with a soft hint of light
toast
and brown sugar.
A yeast banana sour is next to it.
The body is medium-dense.
The alcoholic component is present, but it, as if to the place -
compensates for the seemingly malty sweetness.
And this is very correct in this style.
In the aftertaste, malt sweetness continues to gently stretch,
shading with a barely audible touch of light hop bitterness
with hints of citrus
and candy,
leaving for a semisweet finish.
Summarize. In my opinion, the main characteristics of this style,
namely rich caramel maltiness,
compensated, balanced by alcohol -
could be correctly conveyed.
The use of whiskey in this case is not very clearly reflected in the taste,
but still caught.
So, it was not in vain.
And this is good.
Summarizing the overall results, I want to say.
That's what I like, when it's all very honest.
The site of the brewery details the components of all beers,
heir main characteristics
(except for the initial density of the wort)
and unambiguous positioning of the stylistic affiliation.
It's cool, right and bold, at least.
Such frankness always bribes and disposes.
Each of the presented varieties basically corresponds to the declared styles,
and in each of them an attempt is made for personalization,
I call it "zest".
And I am very impressed by this approach.
Of course there are small shortcomings.
Porter led us by his excessive carbonization.
But all this is mistakes on the way to the top.
The direction chosen is very correct.
As they say - only those who do nothing are not mistaken.
The company Belg-Bier-Toer once again pleased me.
Respect for such interesting findings.
By the way, they can similarly please you.
Information about the project, as well as the contacts of today's brewery - in the link below the video.
And on this I have everything.
Drink the right beer,
subscribe to my channel,
join my group in VK,
link below,
leave comments, put likes,
make outposts.
It will be interesting.
Bye, bye, friends!
