“Menno from the Molen Brewery asked us to brew our approach of his beer “Vuur & Vlam”, this for the occasion of his 2nd Borefts Beer Festival, which will be held next September 24 & 25th, in Bodegraven, Netherlands.”
This crazy beer is from Belgium. We get from the label that it’s an IPA that uses galena, chinook, simcoe, cascade and Amarillo hops..dry hopped with cascade. Whoa! we’re licking our lips in anticipation. Poured into a shaker, the dark amber/brown head dissipates quickly, looking like an ale. Very interesting aroma of clove, spices and sweet malt, kind of like a Saison. The mouth feel is full and rich with bitterness that is balanced really well by spices, juicy fruit and very mild pine. The 7% alc vol doesn’t show up in the mouth which is lovely. We get funny hints of boiled lollies on the palate. Definite clove spiciness on the back end. The only issue we have is why sugar was added to this?!? There is no bloody need!! The flavours from the hops, the sweetness from the malt is more than enough, and the smooth balance of this drop is excellent. We noted this was 96/100 from ratebeer.com. We think this is a different tasting IPA, and for that we like. Next time, back yourselves and leave the sugar out. It would be just as delicious without it.