One day, three mouths

I came away from the 2018 Borefts Beer Festival at De Molen feeling it had been a bit of a chore. Not enough to sack off 2019 completely, however, but we decided that one of the two days would be enough. On the other hand, I had a second companion to steal beer from (thanks Robert!) and got through a satisfactory quantity over the six hours we were there.

Proceedings began at the stall of underrated Swedish brewery Dugges. Their Tropic Thunder turned out to be another of those fruited sour beers that aren't really sour. This is 4.5% ABV, pale yellow in colour and very fizzy. There's a huge breakfast-juice effect, teeming with passionfruit, mango and peaches. I give it a pass because it's not overly sweetened and does stay on the happy side of refreshing. On a warm day I would be glad of it.

Fifty Fifty is also purportedly sour but isn't really and this time the ABV is an unreasonable 6%. The odd combination of flavours used here is raspberry with liquorice. I didn't get any of the latter, though my companions both did. For me it was largely a one-dimensional jam-flavoured raspberry job, though at least it's not heavy or hot. I was expecting something more daring than what I got.

Another Dugges beer showed up at the table later: Big Idjit imperial stout. This was much more the sort of thing with which I associate the brewery. Though a screaming 12% ABV there's a beautiful three-way balance between chocolate and caramel sugar, a wholesome wheaty dry side with plenty of roast, and an old-world bitter punch. It's a very grown-up and mature combination, something I have no qualms about celebrating when I find it. Faith is restored.

Dugges was being kept company in Swedish Corner by Borefts veterans Närke. From them I tried Rainbow Warrior, one of their regulars: an American style IPA. American in the old-fashioned style, this being 6.8% ABV, a clear rose-gold and massively thick and resinous. An unfettered bitterness runs rampant through it, the malt amping up the hops and shirking any balancing duties. I loved how full-on it is and while I wouldn't want a festival full of beers like this, one example brightened my day.

L: Gigantic IPA, R: Ginormous

OK, two examples. Hot on its heels came Gigantic IPA from Gigantic of Portland. This is a bit of a throwback; hazy but not in the modern yellow way, showing instead a bright and cheery orange. The aroma is mandarin and cedar, and the spice from the latter comes right through into the flavour, joined by a spritzy sherbet tang. A strong but not excessive bitterness balances the fruit and spice and brings a layer of pine resin to the finish. This is a rock-solid, citric American IPA, bang on the appropriate style strength at 6.9% ABV. I hope it got some love from the crowd, other than by nostalgic old guys like me.

The beer beside it is... confused. A gin barrel IPA was in the programme, just above an IPA with pineapple and tangerine, called Ginormous. The latter was ordered in the belief it was the former, so there ensured much sitting around confused about the lack of gin character. What we actually had was another retro west-coast IPA, this time of the double variety. It's heavy, 8.8% ABV, and with more toffee than hop kick. Disappointing, but we move on.

From Alvinne came another fruited iteration of their Flemish oud bruin. Cuvée Freddy Bosbes (named after the dad from Bread) is the one with blueberries and is 8% ABV, pouring a deep red-brown colour. There's the intense balsamic vinegar nose typical of the style, as thick with resins as it is sharp with acid. The vinegar dominates on tasting, backed by a meeker raisin fruit and a touch of chocolate. As is too often the case with Alvine, that intense sourness overpowers everything else, and it's tough drinking as a result. You may look elsewhere for blueberries.

A more successful funk was brought by Italian brewer La Calavera in their Bretternity barrel-aged grape saison. It's a bruiser at 8.6% ABV, displaying lots of horse in the aroma, and then a flavour of light pepper and vinegar with a citrus twist. It's fascinating for the first couple of seconds before it tails off too quickly. This tastes half its strength and should be properly complex but just couldn't hold my attention. Nevertheless, I enjoyed what was there, while it was there.

English brewer Odyssey was new to me, and they created a berry-infused mild for the festival called Old Brockhampton: 3.5% ABV and entirely unsuited to the tiddly measures. There's a lovely combination of flavours here, beginning with classic mild ones of chocolate, cherry and raisin, before a tart note of fresh raspberry creeps in, and then a surprise grassy hop finish. The body is very decent for the strength, not thin or watery at all. A pint would be no hardship.

Another unfamiliar Brit was Cross Borders from Dalkeith near Edinburgh. If the Dutch crowd were baffled by English mild I don't know what they made of 80/-. In keeping with the style's nickname, this is just called Heavy and is a murky ochre colour; 4.1% ABV. I lived in Scotland around the turn of the millennium and occasionally drank whatever keg 80/- was available at the time. This tasted very much like that: a basic and dull red ale. Dry grain husk is the bulk of it, with a trace of chocolate and jaffa pith if you look closely, but no real complexity. It may be delightfully anachronistic but it's not very good.

Moor I had heard of, though I don't recall them being at Borefts before. They brought a Brett'd version of Old Freddy Walker old ale called, naturally, Old Bretty Walker. The aroma from the black liquid was both funky and sour though the flavour surprisingly plain. There's a bit of roast, some balsamic and a little red grape, blended into a smooth and easy-going whole, with 8% ABV of wintery warmth. Unexciting, perhaps, but probably meant to be.

That's our first scoot through the offerings. Tomorrow, a closer look at some IPAs.