De Ranke XX Bitter Belgian Pale Ale 11.2 oz bottle

Belgian Pale Ale

Brewed by:  De Ranke Brewery

Country: Belgium
Style:  Belgian Pale Ale
Color: Golden

ABV: 6%
BeerAdvocate.com rating:  91

De Ranke XX Bitter, or Extra Extra Bitter is a blond bitter ale, famous for its very bitter and strong flavor.  (It is the source for XXX, where even more hops are added)  It is a high fermenting beer with a surprisingly low ABV.  Brewed with whole hop Brewers Gold and Hallertau Mittelfruh, the IBU is 60-65.  

Pours a hazy, deep gold with generous foam.  Aroma features earthy hops with a citrus undertone, grapefruit zest, and mossy and floral notes.  Taste is earthy and grassy from start to finish but the bitterness lingers.  It is highly carbonated but the bitterness makes it feel like it's finishing dry.  

Food Pairings

Pair with spicy seafood dishes and fried foods, or with Blue Cheese, Cheddar, Edam, or Gorgonzola. Serve at 46 – 54 degrees F.

Brewery Information: 

The De Ranke Brewery was founded in 1996 by good friends Nino Bacelle and Guido Devos, hobby brewers who turned a part-time obsession into a successful commercial venture.

At first brewing only on weekends using the equipment and facilities of an existing craft brewery, De Ranke soon established a reputation for producing robust and flavorful ales with a massive hops profile; hops, in their philosophy, are the single most important ingredient in any ale. They embraced traditional brewing methods (without eschewing helpful new technologies) and used only the freshest natural ingredients like real hop flowers instead of cheap hop extracts like many of their larger more commercially driven counterparts.

As a result, De Ranke brews grew steadily in popularity and demand; in the late 2000s, De Ranke was able to relocate to its own brewery in Dottignies in the Hainaut province of Belgium.

Today, De Ranke Brewery exports award winning hop-centric ales to nine different countries including the United States, India, France and Japan.