Download March 2011 - Bite Magazine

21great Belgian ales it is aping. The breweryrather vaguely suggests it would be great withmeat. I drank it with a haggis burrito and itworked rather well, leading me to suspectthat dry, salty meat dishes would be bestBaladin Open IPA 7.5% abvA very impressive imperial pale in the modernUS/Belgian style. It is very light in colourwith a nice Mr Whippy foamy head. The noseis very expressive and green, with herbalaromas of coriander, parsley and waxy orangepeel alongside cigar box and balsa wood. Thepalate kicks in with a melange of citrus, fromtart, acidic lemons to juicy pink grapefruit.The finish has great length with a waxy, oilyedge and a nice, slow crescendo of hopderivedbitterness.It would sit very nicely with mildly spiceddishes but is dry and crisp enough to drink asan aperitif. I will definitely be coming backfor some more of this.Birra del Borgo Re-Porter 5.2% abvA very black beer;good, solid, totallyopaque, Darth Vaderblack, little head tospeak of and very flat.The nose is reasonablyopen with very dryaromas of charcoaland vulcanised rubberalongside the more expected roasted maltcharacters. The palate is quite mild and ofmedium weight, it has a nice, creamy texturenot unlike an oatmeal stout. The finish isshort, simple and maybe a wee bit onedimensional.It is by no means a bad porter,but I am afraid that it is outclassed by manyof our native Scottish stouts and porters.It is quite hard to give a proper evaluation ofthese beers without knowing at what pricethey are to be retailed at, but in summary; onegood, one excellent and one so-so. If this isrepresentative of what Italian microbreweriesare capable of, then I can see myself doingquite a bit more research on Broughton Street.James Wrobel is proprietor of CorneliusWine & Beer on Easter Road. Serendipitybar is located underneath Locanda DeGusti at 7-11 East London Street.