REVIEW #48: Geboren & Getogen (Brouwerij de Molen)

Pours a cloudy but brilliant orange with a ridiculous amount of carbonation - it went everywhere as soon as I uncapped the bottle! The aggressive CO2 means the pure white fluffy head remains at least a finger thick throughout. A lemony, apple & raspberry aroma greets the nose - careful with pouring too, else some very pungent yeast will also lend its flavour to your beverage. It is medium dry (never really crossing into sweet), slightly tart, with apple and watermelon notes up front preceding a surprisingly bitter bite in the finish, which also has a slight sawdust accent. Smoke is plainly there in the background; it has been used judiciously however and blends very well with the bitter hop (single hopped with a European variety similar to Saaz). Malt is also their to lend balance to what is without doubt a hop-focussed beer. Nice stuff; a really refreshing pale ale. Would be lovely on a Summer's day!

De Molen seem to have discontinued Geboren & Getogen ("Born & Raised") as its not part of their website's 'beerography' any longer which is a shame because of its uniqueness. English birch smoked malt is an unusual ingredient. German rauchmalt is generally beech wood smoked. Schlenkerla of Bamburg produce both beech wood & oak wood lagers which are both delicious but have a much more assertive smoke presence than this beer. This is probably due to the types of wood used as well as the longevity of mashing. Producing a range of beers using different wood-smoked malts would be an interesting direction to take, but is perhaps not so commercially appealing for most breweries. De Molen really need to be commended for creating unique, challenging and - most importantly - sublimely drinkable craft beers!

• MALTS: english birch smoked malt, CARAmel malt

• HOPS: SLADEK (BITTERING & AROMA/FINISHING)
• IBU: 32
• ABV: 4%`
• BOTTLE-CONDITIONED

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