Bananatana
De 3 Horne Bierbrouwerij

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from a 750ml to a snifer, the banana aroma is overpowring and when mixed with the aroma of the hops not a very appealing scent. A little too much setament for me in the glass and in the bottle even after I swirlled the bottle and glass to keep everything moving. The taste is like chwing on an unrippened banana to where to taste a grainy feel with only mild sweetness. Definitly a miss on the brewery's part.

Poured from a 750 ml bottle into a snifter.

A - Beer is a dark golden color, slightly hazy. There is some tiny, dark bits of sediment hanging in the beer (are these banana seeds?).

S - Aroma is like fresh bananas with some peppery spice in the background. No hop aroma.

T - The flavor profile is like a saison, but there is banana, grape and peppery spice in the background.

M - Full body, but still very drinkable. Carbonation helps lighten the body.

D - Very interesting beer. Overall I'd characterize it as a saison with fruit. Very drinkable, not sweet or cloying or overly banana-like, as the aroma would indicate.

Appearance: Big foamy head that was about 2-inches at first pour and quickly went down to a thin lace. Color was on the light side with a watered down orange hue.

Smell: Smells like Budweiser and sweet bananas....what a combo! At least the banana scent overpowers the other.

Taste & Mouthfeel: Oh man that is some banana flavor! It's overpowering and tends to have a perfume taste that accompanies it. The aftertaste is certainly the taste of throwing a full banana in your mouth or chomping on all of that stringy part of the banana skin that you get when you peel it back. It's also very dry and acidic at the end with a sweetness to boot.

Drinkability: I'm all for new beers and the inventiveness that comes with unusual pairings. Heck, I even like bananas....but this beer did not work for me. It was an admirable attempt that failed for me. Glad I tried it, but will never drink this one again unless somehow a banana falls into a Budweiser and someone offered it to me under the veil of a hybrid beer.

Tasting exactly like the banana flavored Runts candies, the beer carries and confectionary sweetness along with the slightly artificial banana flavor that's common in commercial candies.

The beer pours, not yellow, but lightly copper and with a mild haze. An initial burst of carbonation releases a billowing froathy head but all that's short lived as the beer settles into a light streaming bubblyness and a terse lace along the rim.

Aromas of pez-like confectioner's sugar (with banana overtones, of course) dominate the glass with a moderate alcoholic scent. Not much else makes its way out of the olfactory impact.

The beer's flavor keeps the banana dominance but not without some dry maltier caramels, breads, and grains. Hop bitterness helps to combat the sweetness but doesn't inerfere with flavor- just adding a mild bitterness. A solventy note rides along side of the alcohols and gives the impression of nail polish remover.

Medium textured throughout, the beer begins to give a creamier/breadier texture at first sip but the detraciton of banana and alcohol ushers the beer into the fleeting bready-sweetness and towards alcoholic warmth/dryness.

The beer has some delicious banana flavors, but the focus on the fruit leaves it very one-dimensional and doesn't allow for much complexity, balance, or depth without compromising the banana focus.

Tangerine orange with banana peel borders and a lovely crown of taupe colored foam. Persistence is impressive given the dozens of bubble streams feeding its underside. A little more visual character and more lace would have been good.

One sniff is all it takes to determine that bananas have been used in the brewing process. There's also a wonderfully aromatic yeasty white bread quality that complements the fruit very well. If this Brouwerij De 3 Horne offering tastes like it smells, we're in business.

The 'banana' of the name refers to bananas and the 'tana' refers to sultanas, or golden raisins, which is the only other ingredient besides malt, hops, yeast and water. After the sniff test, it wasn't clear if raisins would be appreciated on the palate. They are (barely), but the monkey fruit is the dominant flavor by far.

Even though there have only been a few, Bananatana is the best banana beer that I've ever had. It isn't a sugary fruit lambic, though there is some background sweetness that is a perfect foil for the fruit. The most accurate comparison is to a barely perceptable yeast estery Belgian pale ale with a perfect amount of freshly-peeled banana flavor.

The mouthfeel gets the job done in fine style. It's on the lighter end of the spectrum for the ABV and carbonation is fine and dandy. More size and more lush creaminess would put this attribute into the stratosphere and might have allowed the taste score to be bumped.

While perusing the selection at Brix (Omaha) several days ago, I came across this bottle of Bananatana in the cooler and could not pass it up. It looked interesting and... lo and behold... it tastes interesing as well. It also tastes damn good if you feel like drinking outside the box on occasion.

Poured an amber brown with yellow highlights that had a finger of head and left a little bubbly lacing sticking to the glass. The aromas was very intresting consisting of nonetheless ripe bananas slight clove bread malt character and sweetness from sugars. The taste was also dominated by the bananas which was not a bad thing at all and was not overly sweet. It did have a spice like character, banana pudding notes, and some bready malt flavors. The brew was light to medium in body with a fair amount of carbonation which had a slight spice but fruity malty finish. Surprisingly the beer drank pretty decnt and IMO it was an above average fruit beer that really did juatice for the banana.. definitely worth trying at least once.

De 3 Horne Bierbrouwerij Bananatana

Appearance: dark orange, small head, and little lacing.

Smell: banana pudding.

Taste: the entire banana and a very faint dark fruit.

Mouthfeel: smooth and medium.

Overall:
Wow. This has a fantastic banana flavor. You can smell and taste the entire banana.

Finally getting around to having another of these for a review. Poured a lighter amber/brownish color with a faint white head. Aroma of bananas and cloves. Taste was rather unimpressive: bananas, a little malt, no bitterness whatsoever. Glad to try this again (not the drain pour I remembered) but doubt I'd seek it out again.

pours a cloudy brown-yellow with a small dirty-white head, and a little lacing.

smell is of ripe banana cream pie, some spice, and malt in the back.

taste is of banana, some malt, some spice, and a touch of vanilla, ends creamy with a predominate banana aftertaste.

A: Poured a glowing deep yellow with good carbonation and a small white head

S: Smelled of ripe banana, sugar and vanilla wafers

T: Overly ripe bananas with some vanilla wafers, like a banana pudding almost

M: Sordove effervescent and sweet, sting of booze and feel was not very smooth

D: Not bad I suppose. interesting for sure.

Poured into a DFH glass. Very clear gold, a surprising degree of white foam.

Smell is mostly banana (big surprise) and a little raisin. It's unmistakable. Sometimes I like a beer that's right up front like that.

Taste is of a light malt backbone, with a lot of banana essence yet with very little banana sweetness. Finishes dry. Like a banana Runt candy without the sweetness. This is good. I think the prior reviewers are underrating this. Decent. But I'd like to see this banana character in a strong brown ale, aged in rum barrels. Now THAT would be an A+ beer....you feel me on that?

It's light and fluffy on the palate. Actually acts as a bit of a palate cleanser, what with the high carbonation and dry finish.

Underrated. That said, a little will do you, as it is fairly powerful and one-dimensional. Share this one.

Poured from 75 cL bottle into shaker pint glass with trepidation...not sure what to expect from this one.
A: Pours a fizzy golden yellow with faint white head.
S: Strong sweet aroma, but seems fake and not fruit or banana-driven.
T: Bananas--but again this seems off. Hint of grape in the background. Mild hop note.
M: Watery and bland. A bit of a fizz from the carbonation.
D: I guess it's drinkable, but overall a disappointing beer. I'm glad they tried to brew a true banana beer, but not sure the sultanas needed to be in the mix. Some spices that would blend well with the banana would have served this brew better. There are many, many quality beers out there. I suppose you could try a sip, but I wouldn't waste my time on this one.

Notes from a late summer 2008 patio tasting. A 750ml capped bottle shared with brothercannon and psycohops. Poured into a trio of shaker glasses. Appears a hazed bright yellow color with a finger of quickly fading bone white head. Nose and flavor are of banana taffy, cheap banana bread, ripe bananas, sweet, yet slightly bitter. Light in body and carbonation. Good to try once.