As a spinoff of the wildly successful Single Hop IPA’s series that Mikkeller has been brewing for the past several years the Single Hop Science series is brewed with solely new strains of hops. Cross breeding and artificial breeding of hops has become very popular as of late in part due to massive interest in the beer geek community and home brew community. Belma is a strain of hops artificially bred with high alpha acid content of 12.1% and a mild Cascade like flavour. Single Hop Science Belma is a 6.5% IPA brewed for Mikkeller at De Proufbrouwerij in Belgium.
Belma pours a bright orange colour with a massive foamy white head and a hazy body despite not having any sediment present. The aroma is pronouncedly fruity with big floral pineapple and a hint of strawberry. A fairly basic cereal and grain malt aroma pervades the fruity hop aromas. Although the flavour had a prominent fruity flavour with mild malts and a floral hop note the taste has a general herbal spice with mild sweet fruits taking the back seat. The finish has a lingering hop spice with a bit of zesty grapefruit eventually making its way through to the palate. This beer in general is a very average IPA that lacks a bitter and resinous feel but on its own the fruitiness is a unique flavour profile. I look forward to more beers in this series as well as more beers brewed with Belma hops.
Grade: 74/100
Price: $4.99
The Alberta BeerSmith 