Beer – #727 – To Øl – Baltic Frontier Seabuckthorn IPA

This took my eye in the shop, because short name: To Øl, just how do you pronounce that? And, I had no idea what kind of beer it was really, but what’ the worst that can happen?

“Superb sour juniper berry with salty sea buckthorn and a dry hoppy finish!”

330ml bottle contains a beer of 6.5% ABV and 1.7 standard drinks, that would be 195 calories!

For To Øl this is Brewed at De Proefbrouwerij and because e the stuff added it is in the style that would be a Fruit Beer, brewed in Belgium, brewer is from Copenhagen N, Denmark

confused man holds Danish belgian ipa fruit beer

This puppy is an IPA beaten with juniper berries and sea-buckthorn and trashed with hops.

It is a celebration of a potent beer culture shared between scandinavia and the baltic region.

Ingredients: Water, Malt, Seabuckthorn, Hops (Centennial, Columbus and Cluster), Juniper Berries and Yeast.

So, what could possibly go wrong? Note I got out the smallest glass to make this appear a bigger beer, I have no idea why, a bit like buying this beer, it’s all a bit odd.

From the aroma you’d pick this as a straight up and down hoppy type of beer, if anything there is a little sugary sweetness to the aroma.

Pour is a very hazy orange and there was a head that faded to a thin film. Aroma is still of hops.

Here goes…. and even prepared that it a surprise.

It isn’t sour or tart, except that it is both sour and tart, and almost salty to the taste. An odd and at-odds beer flavouring which is also oddly quite compelling. I have no idea if I’m coming or going.

Settling down and you can notice that the tartness is from the Juniper, because it’s a similar taste to a Gin, but also there is a fruit like sweetness underneath it.

Then after that initial shock and drama there is nothing more. You get a slightly sour tart beer with a light body, and a disappointing aspect.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 of its things from the thing. Sometimes these things go really well and are a bit of revelation. Whilst I think that this a disappointing drink of beer it isn’t quirky (Aside the things noted) and is quite polite in its disappointment.

The double dip review

Where did I get it? my local Liquorland, Forrest Hill, where they have a shed load of craft beers and a brilliant buyer.
Am I enjoying it? Not really my thing, no.
Would I have another? No, bit of a mistake the small glass, as it fills three times .
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I’m sure their other beers are more mainstream efforts, this one might just be too quirky to be a regular thing. There are better sour tart beers to have.

Music for this : ” Tiger Waves ” and ” Tippy Beach ” on Spotify They’re from Austin, Texas, and are a bit Cosmic Surf-Rock, Freak Pop, Adult Contemporary Jazz, New-New-Wave