Passport Royale
Brewery Ommegang

16 oz can

Pours a cloudy golden yellow color, with thick layer of white head. Good head retention. Aroma is a mix of blueberry, lemony citrus, a little funky. Similar taste, its mildly tart, has some hop bitterness, some herbal yeastiness. Lively carbonation, thin to medium bodied.

The beer pours a white and creamy head that dissipates quickly while the beer itself is a very good looking clear golden amber color.

The smell is interesting. It has a mix of brett, light funk, sugary strawberry, and grapefruit hop note.

The taste consists of the previous notes. The brett and hop notes come out upfront while the sugary strawberry note comes out in the finish and lingers in the aftertaste.

The feel is good. It has a medium body with tingling carbonation and a smooth body. The finish is dry.

It's an interesting beer with the different contribution from three breweries specializing in different kinds of beer. It's worth trying out even if it's kind of mild for a sour IPA.

I almost always enjoy a collaboration beer, but I'm particularly excited to find one that is done with a NY Brewery that I love, paired with a classic (Leifmans), and a favorite from my time living in Italy (Ducato). This one pours a moderately hazy orange color with a slim head and a medium carbonation. The taste has a lively and spicey sourish funk, backed with a lot of fruit. I get apple, pear, and maybe some underripe berry. The taste is not as sour as I expected...it is actually somewhat sweet, but has a notable acidic twang accompanying some malt. Flavorful, fruity, fresh, and with lots of varied flavors. Not what I expected, but this is incredibly fascinating and enjoyable.

Poured from a can into a tulip glass
Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden amber color with a tall head of white puffy foam. The head has a fantastic level of retention, fading very slowly over time and leaving tons of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is strong of a sour apple and vinegar smell mixed with a cracker malt aroma along with some smells of white grape, blueberry, and a bit of light grapefruit and herbal hop.
Taste – The taste begins with a crisp cracker malt and white wine flavor mixed with a moderately sour taste of sour green apple and lemon. At the same time there is a touch of herbal hop and a note of grapefruit rind, mixed with a touch of blueberry. The hop remains rather light throughout, all while the sour gets slightly more intense. As the taste moves toward the end, there is are notes of funk and hay that join in, and with a bit of paper, one is left with a rather crisp and clean sour wine like flavor to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body is light and crisp with a moderate carbonation level.
Overall – To me it’s like a slightly sour and lightly hopped white wine-beer hybrid. Rather interesting and fairly refreshing. I could see this go very well with a pasta and fish dish.

 

Poured into a narrow imperial pint glass: color is straw gold, slight haze, head is brighter white with fine to small bubbles, head presents at least one finger thick, head remains with solid thin top and spotty lacing on the glass sides.

Smell is earth, light funk, sour fruit, earthy and crisp hops, hop notes are light citrus and berry; felt the berry was from hops at first but interesting to learn the blueberry base from Liefmans as its not so distinct.

Taste is more funky earthiness, more horseblanket like flavor but sourness overtakes, followed by light hop character; a very unique blend of flavors but the brett is notable alongside the hop character; light malt with biscuit and pilsner grapenut notes.

Mouthfeel is lower carbonation, moderate sweetness, blended sour and bitterness that is fairly light for the strength - not puckering and not biting.

Overall an exceptional beer and one so unique to see in wide distribution - super drinkable and interesting flavor profile.

Clear gold, finger of white head that dissipates quickly, spotty lacing
A bit of barnyard funk, blueberry yogurt, hay, and a bit of lemon zest aroma
Yeah, blueberry yogurt, grapefruit zest, hay, that "vibrant and racy" Brett zip, just a bit tart
Light bodied, could use more carbonation
Interesting, and I enjoyed it, but not something I'd try again if there were any better options

 

Served from a 16 oz. can with a bottled on date of 25June2025 and a best by date of 25March2026

"This unique collaboration celebrates the art of brewing and blending. A Mixed-Culture IPA born from three iconic breweries - Liefmans, Ducato, and Ommegang - it brings together sour mastery, hop innovation, and Belgian inspired tradition. Fermented with Saccharomyces and Lactobacillus, Passport Royale delivers bright acidity, subtle fruit, and layered hops. Made to honor Belgian National Day and Month, it's a toast to global creativity and complexity."

Pours a clear golden sunburst orange with two fingers of stark white, sticky head which produces some pretty lacing as the beer disappears. Very inviting looking beer.

Nose of that Brett wet hay and barnyard with stone fruit and citrus rind.

Anxious to taste this beer as it looks and smells lovely and I have a lot of respect for the three breweries in this collaboration.

Mouthfeel is thinner than I would have expected, with very limited carbonation. Refreshing, but a little of a let-down. Probably due to the Lactobacillus component which can make beers come off as one-dimensional without the complexity and increased body from Pediococcus sp.

Wonderfully complex taste that is an explosion of all manner of orchard fruit (pear, apple, peach) at the start which evolves into some pleasant bitterness both from the hops and Brett and end with a drying bitterness and tartness which carries over into the aftertaste.

Overall a very solid beer, that is delicious, but suffers only from a thin body and a lack of moreish-ness from the tartness.

had a bunch of beers from ommegang lately, cool to see so much innovation and to be getting it all the way out in idaho, although i think some might be made at boulevard now? anyway, i was shocked to see this super heady collaboration with liefmans and ducato, whoa! could of legends there, this felt unlikely. its a mixed fermentation ipa, but it might be a blend of beers from each brewery, i think i read somewhere there was even blueberry beer in the blend, but i dont get that. the can does say natural flavors on it, which makes me wonder what needs to be flavored in a fermentation forward ipa right? regardless of what this actually is, im glad it exists, an interesting brew on a lot of levels, totally unexpected really. its rusty orange colored, clearish as these things go, fizzy and heady, an inch or more of pure white big bubble head on top the whole way. the nose is tart, i thought it might be bretty, more funky than sour, but this might not have brett at all, its lactic and citrusy and quick, cleaner more than wild, but mouthwatering and appealing, some complimentary citrusy hops are also here, but its not really ipa level hoppy to my nose, just off from real fresh but its in favor of the complex yeast aspects, so im into it, fairly european, belgian, good. the flavor is like the nose, although i think it smells a little more sour than it drinks, just tart, drying, almost briny, with white wine, white grape, green gooseberry, and tart apple character alongside more familiar lactic lemony tang. the hops are herbal and juicy, hit orange, key lime, and grapefruit fruitiness to me as well, and there is a decent bit of pale malt on this, not sweet but with both flavor and body contributions that make this very well rounded and plenty easy drinking for something classed as a sour. i love the rushing carbonation, its frantic and consistent and makes this pretty refreshing. i think i can kind of appreciate the contributions of each brewery even if i still have some questions about it, and its cool they got together for this. fun stuff, complex but drinkable, reserved in acidity and in hop intensity, which works in its favor, yum!

12oz draught at What's On Tap 8-23-25.
1 finger white head with decent retention. Deep golden body with good clarity. Thin but lasting lace.
Faint barnyard aroma and mild aroma beyond that, hard to peg as an IPA or a sour one.
MIld flavor as an IPA but the pizazz of sour lifts it up.
Light body, medium carbonation. Lightly sour. Dry-ish finish with good length. Tangy. Refreshing.
Good.

As expected, the room temperature pour to empty a pint can into a clear glass liter mug ran excessively foamy. That's the nature of this style. Said foam receded quickly, unevenly and unattractively, albeit not as offensively as some. Its aroma is nicely balanced and complex, with notes of Belgian style yeast, citrusy hops and malted starch. The foam is basically stark white and the liquid beneath is lightly and brightly golden-amber, approaching translucent. It's not boldly flavorful, but the three things expected are there to taste and in decent balance. The citrusy bite and Belgian yeastiness overtake the starch backbone, but it's still a rather sweet brew. The body is light, but carries the various tastes nicely. The foam contributes to some spotty glass lacing, maybe a little more the you'd expect from its body. While not a standout for any specific reason, this is an interesting taste test. It's true to its intention, a mixed cultured sour IPA, although some of the flavors seem artificial for a pure beer. But, it doesn't press beer drinkers that don't like it with that overly estered Belgian beer banana-like characteristic that can be annoyingly overpowering. Overall, it's interestingly drinkable.

Medium gold pour, thin white head with some patchyness. Nose is citrus and yeast.

Taste offers tart yeast, berry, grapefruit with some rind, subtle papaya, light kilned malt, touch of floral. Medium mouthfeel lightened by the sourness. Finish sees a citrus zing bring the IPA feel. I like this blending, it worked well together.

Pours an opaque orange copper notes and an off white head.

Sour grapes and raspberries with light fruity/floral hops - hints of star fruit.

Star fruit, white wine, bitter herbal floral notes with a green apple earthy finish.