The less exotic

My final post from the 2018 Borefts Beer Festival at De Molen concerns the beers from the brewery, its compatriots, and the others from north-west Europe.

We'll begin with a new binomial stout from De Molen: Different & Unusual. It's a substantial 10.4% ABV but seems even stronger from the thick texture. It has an intense bitterness, all sappy resins, switching quickly to sweeter red wine and finishing on dark chocolate with a nutmeg spice. That sounds charming now that I read it back but it was a bit of a chore to get through, largely because of the density. It doesn't really reward the effort required to drink it.

There were four different versions of De Molen's #3000 black barley wine on the go, and I got to try the Sauternes-barrel one. Cake and wine is the long and short of it. The ABV is 14.6% and a lot of hot sweetness comes with that. It's accompanied by a strong red wine flavour that intensifies to cream sherry and leaves an aftertaste of rum-and-raisin ice cream. Another intense one, then, but much more fun than the stout.

Staying strong, Dutch and barrel-aged, Kees! had a bourbon-aged Caramel Fudge Stout on the go. This was 11.5% ABV and really lays on the fudge in its aroma. Chocolate and coffee are the main feature of the flavour: a rich and warming mocha. The smooth and creamy texture lends it a luxurious feel and gives the overall impression of an Irish coffee. I had been expecting a noisy, jangling pastry stout but got something much more integrated and classy instead.

I made a beeline early on for Tommie Sjef's stall to see what was on before it ran out. The Dutch sour beer wizard had a grape ale on the go, called Cuvée. This is 7.8% ABV and a hazy pale orange colour. There's a very strong lambic component to the flavour profile, a delightful brick-and-nitre spicy cellar dampness. A sweet and sappy raw oak flavour arrives as the initial sourness fades, followed by heavy white wine. I'm not sure the grape component adds anything positive to the picture. I found myself continually looking past it at the lovely geuze character beneath. Still a magnificent beer, though, and much too exciting to photograph in focus.

He had another fruited one called Opal-Jubileum, named after the two types of Dutch plum used in it. This was more like a Flanders red, dark pink and headless, with that uncompromising vinegar tang they often show. After the hard sourness there's a gentler fruit quality -- raspberries and redcurrants more than plums, I thought. A peppery spiciness added a pleasant unexpected twist to the finish. Though a modest 6% ABV it's a little on the heavy side, but the unusual combination of flavours makes it very interesting and enjoyable drinking. Well played, Tommie.

Perhaps surprisingly I had just one beer from Uiltje: the Cucumber Sour. This is only 3% ABV and a pale hazy yellow with a fine foam on top. It's sharply tart and lightly salty without very much contribution from the added fruit. Quenching, I guess, but rather plain and boring, which is not something I normally associate with this brewer.

New to me among the Dutch cohort was Brouwerij de Natte Gijt from Limburg. They had an apricot-flavoured gose called #5. It's a lurid orange colour and has a horrid sickly yoghurt and fruit juice flavour. This is barely recognisable as a beer, never mind as Leipzig's iconic style. Not a good introduction to a brewery's wares.

They also had a session rye ale of just 2.5% ABV called 7e Gijtje. It looked attractive: a deep and warming shade of ochre. The flavour was rather soapy at first, the sharp herbal tang of floor cleaner and urinal cakes. This mellows later to damp grass and lemon zest. The recipe certainly has potential but it was really let down by the watery texture. I suspect they were overambitious with that ABV.

It seems a bit strange that an international beer festival in the low countries would have just one Belgian representative in attendance, and that was Alvinne. Their 12% ABV Cuvée d'Erpigny barley wine was present in a Sauternes-barrel form, making it the second such in today's post. How did it match up to the De Molen one above? There's a deliciously sour and spicy nose, with lots of cedar and sandalwood. The sweet, red-tasting, wine is very apparent in the flavour and is matched by a clean and waxy bitterness, growing in intensity until it becomes a lambic-like sourness. Imperial geuze is born! The richness of a barley wine is missing, making it a very different proposition to De Molen #3000, but no less enjoyable for that.

To the right of it in the picture is something called Sour'ire de Mortagne Smoked Peaches, an 11% ABV Flemish sour ale with, yes, smoke and peaches. It starts off promisingly with a bricky lambic aroma. Peated malt seems to be where the smoke comes in as there's a powerful punch of smoky phenols up front in the first sip, then a long crisp bacon taste. There's no peach that I could detect, the smoke followed by an intense but clean sourness. The two sides of this beer are perfectly palatable by themselves but don't work very well in combination.

Another sour Alvinee beer? Go on then. Naakte Elf is a relative lightweight at 6% ABV and is an unboiled ale with unspecified fruit. I'm guessing something red as it's pink in colour and has a cherry liqueur aroma. The flavour offers a pleasant mix of cherry and raspberry with a touch of marzipan. It's tart but chewy, with the slightly artificial fruit sweetness of throat sweets. A bit of an oddball, this, but I liked it. They got value out of whatever berries they used in it.

Two English beers for last orders. North Brewery were at Borefts for I think the first time, bringing their core regulars and one I hadn't seen before: Island in Space sour IPA. This is a pale yellow colour with substantial haze and is centred on a delicious fresh lemon sourness. It's light without being watery, the ABV a respectable 5.5%. I'm a fan of this sort of thing in general but this is an especially good example, the hops and sourness in absolutely perfect balance and harmony. While it may not be very complex, it really knows how to slake a thirst.

One final imperial stout, then, and it's Wylam's Feasting With Panthers. This has been flavoured with liquorice and they must have really stuffed the bootlaces in there: it's very liquoricey. The thick tarry consistency and 10.5% ABV only serve to accentuate this. The end result is quite one-dimensional, but tasty with it. You get what you're promised.

So ends another Borefts. As I said on Monday, I'm in two minds whether this is still the festival for me, but a decision on next year is still a few months away. I did get to try some more beers on this trip to the Netherlands and I'll cover them off in tomorrow's post.