Ölbeat 056: De Ranke XXX Bitter

Brewery: Brouwerij De Ranke
Country: Belgium
Style: Belgian Ale
Abv: 6 %
@RateBeer

The hop-upgraded version of XX Bitter

What about the beer?
Colour is bubbly clear yellow with small white head. Aroma has lemon, yeast and grass. Taste starts with bitter and sour first bite. Lemon sourness and hoppy bitterness ride smoothly together. Near the finish the bitterness gets some tones of yeast and herbs. Aftertaste is sour and dry.

The tasty combination of sour citrus and dry bitter hops works with me. There are similarities with saison and farmhouse ales, which is excellent, but the bitterness turns the experience to a different direction, which is also excellent. Overall very fresh and clear cut experience.

Ölbeat

Bitter-sour brew can be matched with a blues song. Since the beer doesn't loosen its grip on the drinker easily, I found this piece of art from the master of blues rock:

Gary Moore: Enough of the Blues (YouTube)

From the 2001 album Back to the Blues, the song was written by Gary Moore.