Hop-It

Brewery: De Leyerth Brouwerijen (Urthel)

Supplier: Beers of Europe

Originally a Belgium brewery in town Ruiselede in the province of West Flanders; but since 2007 the beers from this brewery have been brewed in the Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven (the brewery that makes the Trappist "La Trappe" beers) in North Brabant of The Netherlands. This is one of their three specialty beers; a Belgian Blond Brewed with extra hops, making this a Belgian IPA. Served cool.

Appearance: A deep straw colour with hints of orange. Lots of tiny bubbles that form a large head which stays reasonably long.

Aroma: Smells initially like a commercial lager but then you can get those spice Belgian esters right at the back which comprise mainly of cloves and tobacco. Not much hop coming from it.

Flavour: Super sweet malty gummy bear flavour right at the front. This spices up to a typical Belgian body with lots of yeasty spice going on, it is also very boozy. The hops come right at the end; initially an unpleasant plant like bitterness, but this turns into a more palatable green noble hop flavour with drinking. 

Body: Very thick but refreshing, the carbonation is just right, very easy to drink. 

Aftertaste: A commercial lager-like (but more intense) hoppy bitterness at the back,some pleasant fruitiness from the hops. This, however, turns into an unpleasant boozy, yeasty spice 

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 5, I would say this has a little too much of the Belgian phenolic flavours that don't go with the hops, there is also an unpleasant similarity to commercial lagers; however, there are also some very nice flavours (both Belgian and hoppy) that make this nice enough to drink.

Price Range: £3.19 for a 330ml bottle, bit too expensive for what it is; you are paying for the alcohol here, not the flavour.

Food Pairings: Hopefully this isn't just my cravings coming through and that this is actually some sound advice, but I think that this would go well with salted meat, something like ham hock, but bacon would do as well.