Bands, festivals and the lot are releasing branded booze by the dozens these days. GRIMM makes it its mission to get to the bottom (of the bottle) of this trend with insightful reviews and extra backgrounds. So sit back, PICK YOUR POISON, and discover all you need to know about your favorite band’s alcoholic brands!
Poison Fact Sheet
- Poison name: Psycho Table Beer
- Poison style: beer – session IPA
- ABV: 4 %
- IBU: 60
- Brewery: No Science Brasserie (Belgium)
(ABV = Alcohol By Volume; IBU = International Bittering Units)
In our ever-continuing search for all drinks related to the harder music genres we have had official band releases, festival beers, tributes to bands or songs, … But a few breweries inspire a true and complete heavy metal image. It is with pride we can say we have found such a brewery in our very own country. We would like to present you with our first review of a beer from No Science Brasserie from Brussels, Belgium. We start off light with their Psycho Table Beer.
Tasting
When poured we get a massive, mousse-like strong foam head. The color is golden at first, more orange after adding some of the yeast sediment from the bottom of the bottle. The aroma reveals citric hops and some light honey. The first sip is immediately refreshing with a medium body and medium carbo. You get a fruity onset of peaches. In the middle sweet malts are prevalent with addition of herbal and slightly peppery notes. The hoppy bitterness drops in near the end with floral and citric hops. The website tells us it’s a battle between Simcoe and Cascade hops that’s going on here. We can already divulge the Psycho is less aggressively hopped than some of the other brews of No Science. A great bonus is that these flavors remain for a longer time even while we are discussing taste notes.
The name states it as a table beer, probably referring to its low alcohol level of 4%. Historically, at least in Belgium, light beers were consumed by everyone at the dinner table. Yes, that means the kids drank beer as well. My grandfather told me table beer was even given during lunch in the school cafeteria. Although I’m pretty sure the table beers from back in the day of my grandparents were not so massively hopped as this Psycho Table Beer. The person who added the beer to Untappd probably chose session IPA as the style due to the clear hop presence. However, due to the peppery sensation I would argue it leans towards the Belgian saison style as well. But then again, with the sweet malts in the middle there, my mind was caught wandering off in the direction of some traditional English ales. So, what will we make of it? Let us concur with saying it’s a low in alcohol taste bomb of which I could drink several more! In fact, the whole discussion about which style this beer fits under exactly is a shining example of how No Science and some other young breweries in Brussels (Brussels Beer Project, Brasserie de la Senne, L’Ermitage,…) are innovating and causing a revolution in the traditional/archaic Belgian beer culture by coming up with new style combinations and taste experiences. Please keep beers like this coming!
Packaging
The brewery’s bottle labels are recognizable through their black background and fonts that can easily be found with band logo’s as well. The Psycho has quite a punk feeling about it. This is mainly due to the fact that Psycho’s ‘O’ is replaced with a skull with an Elvis haircut, which could just as well be a reference to the punk infused rock ‘n’ roll of the psychobilly music genre. The label plays around with black, white and blood red colors creating a no-nonsense look, just as we like our punk. The alcohol percentage is mentioned in a circle that looks like the stains left on a table after putting your bottle on it. The No Science’s logo, in old typing machine font, uses the same stains and smears, making it look straightforward and modern at the same time. A nice detail that completes the picture. All practical info is organized neatly on the sides without taking up too much space. Fun fact: it seems the best before date is still handwritten on the label, showing this young brewery is still growing.
Goes Best With…
https://youtu.be/0cWMLA5hrp4Video can’t be loaded: The Reverend Horton Heat – Psychobilly Freakout (Live on KEXP) (https://youtu.be/0cWMLA5hrp4)
