Friday Night Surprise Beer Tasting - Part 1

My Friday started off pretty tough, got to work earlier than normal as I had a lot of things going on from presentations to meetings to taking care of the daily business all at once. The day... no, the week was insanely stressful and one night I arrived at 7.30am and left at 10pm to go home, and on Thursday, I didn't even have my Thursday beer! Just because I was damn tired. So you can imagine what kind of shape my body and my mind were in at the close of business Friday night... Luckily for me my friend Hive account@eqko was out and about in Rotterdam that evening enjoying a happy hour with his work friends, and invited me over to join. At about 18.30 my mind began to stop functioning and the only thing I could think about was getting out of there and enjoying a life saving glass of cold beer. So I holla at my boy and joined him for a few beers at the Baek cafe in city center - nice place to enjoy some good food and drinks, but we were only there for the first few beers of the night, as we were gonna need some sustenance later, and we decided to get said sustenance at the Markthal.

At the Markthal the plan was to get some fries and some snacks and then head straight to World of Drinks for a couple of special beers before the shop closed one hour later, nothing complex. But then when started talking to shopkeeper of the salami booth, he told us that World of Drinks was in fact having a beer tasting event and that he was supplying them with salami as appetizers. I immediately got excited and when he told us that it cost just 15 euro, I was sold. So we quickly made our way to World of Drinks as the tasting was just just starting, and when we arrived we found ou that the tasting was being offered by Browerij Frontaal from Breda, I did not know this brewery before, so I was happy to try a new label from Holland. They served us with five rounds of tasting, and each round the beer got gradually stronger and more full bodied. We were served some delicious cheese and salami (as promised by the shopkeeper) and we had an absolute blast. One of the members of Frontaal was giving the introductions to the beers in Dutch, but when he found out that I like to write beer reviews and am a brewer myself, he would go personally to our table to explain everything again in English, very cool of him!

I was really happy at how much fun this evening turned out, it's always great to be surprised like this. So I guess all that is left now is to make my review, which will take place in two parts since we have five beers to review. I will go through the beers in the same order as they were served. Let's get to it!

Tankard - American Saison: 5.7 Score

The Stats

This Saison is brewed with 3.9% abv (typical level for this type of beer), IBU:39 and EBC:6. The recipe used Centennial, Chinook, Cascade and Mosaic - all american hops, and they really went all out on this one pulling all the big hop guns. Let's see if such aggressive hop combination will bring something special to this beer.

Color and Aroma

The Tankard has a beautiful bright honey color and decent head with moderate carbonation, the aroma is strong pineapple, passion fruit and papaia, very pleasant and fresh.

For Color and Aroma, I give it 7/10

Flavor and Body

The first notes you get are tangerine and citrus, strong bitterness (a little too strong) and light body, very dry. Not much more to say since this is a light beer to begin with, but I was expecting a little bit less bitterness for just 39 IBU, I guess the lack of body really brings out those bitter notes.

For Flavor and Body, I give it 5/10

Finish

On the finish the hop aromas quickly disappear leaving mostly the bitterness, and since the beer is really dry you don't really get any sweetness to go with the bitterness, but nothing unpleasant though. This beer is meant to be drank in plentiful quantities but I am not sure it has the correct bitterness for that, it should be a little smoother.

For the Finish, I give it 5/10

Author - Belgian Wheat Ale: Score 5.7

The Stats

"Belgium Wheat Ale", what a fancy way of saying wheat beer! The Author has 5.0% abv, 21 IBU and 6 EBC. It is brewed using Palisade and Cascade hops, the former which I have not yet encountered in person.

Color and Aroma

The color is a nice squash amber tone, not quite as special as the Saison, but bright enough to differentiate it from other typical wheat beers. The aroma is fresh and grassy, slightly floral with a clear scent of the Cascade hops, if you close your eyes this would be very easily identifiable as a Belgium style, so all good for the aroma.

For Color and Aroma, I give it 6/10

Flavor and Body

The flavor is smooth with some notes of ripe yellow fruit, coriander and a bit of cucumber. It is more similar to a Belgium blonde than your typical wheat beer. The body is light to medium, and the head is persistent, again bringing the characteristic of classic Belgium style.

For Flavor and Body, I give it 6/10

Finish

The finish on this one is moderately bitter, with grassy notes, it goes away rather quickly but is quite pleasant. I didn't expect for a wheat beer to be persistent on the after taste and this one was no different, although they did manage to accomplish a lot nice notes with the beer.

For the Finish, I give it 5/10

That's it for now folks, I'm gonna get some sleep and will post again the remaining reviews tomorrow, thank you for reading.

Cheers!