Abbaye des Rocs Blanche des Honnelles (Blanche Double)

Brewed by Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Montignies-sur-Roc, Belgium

Bottle. Cloudy orange with a small head. Aromas are caramel, wheat, sticky fruit and soft spices. Flavours are sweet toffeed malts with wheat and spices. Pretty simple but very pleasant. Has a great foaming mouthfeel.

Poured a hazy yellow color. Malty aroma with some orange and butter. Flavor was sweet, malty, orange and a touch of bitterness on the finish.

750ml bottle, 2005 vintage. Tart, citric aroma, plenty of lemon and orange peel along with notes of pear, melon, coriander, banana, clove, wheat malt and a certain floral perfume. Dark golden amber color, not unlike a sunset, with a vigorous, foamy head and sticky lacing. Flavor begins with some light fruity tartness, becoming more citric and spicy leading into the gently dry, bitter finish. The fading impression is that of peppery spices and juicy lemon. Lively, active, quenching mouthfeel with a medium body. Rather bold in character for the style, and this would seem to be the point.

9 May 2005 - Some stone fruit aroma and hop complexity. Nice white head retention, cloudy orangy colour and suds lacing. Flavour has over the top hop spirit, fruit malt, not what I could a imagine is a wheat beer, not that I don’t like it. If tastes of nice fruit mix and an earthiness. Lingering hop fruit and steeliness finish. Blanche ...what ?, but I like it.

Bottled (BBE 2007)
Copper-orange brown, a bit hazy. Small creamy white head. Parfumic, fruity aroma. Medium bodied. Rounded mouthfeel. Chewy malts, sweety fruityness, also some alcohol/citric flavors. Fruity aftertaste. Very different witbier.

750 ml bottle. Appearance: thoroughly hazy orange color, copious cap of creamy tapioca. Looking very nice. Aroma: spice arrives first, the coriander is king, a little clove?, rounded off with fruit, lemon, peach, apricot, orange...nice and lively... Taste: a sumptuous sizzle sets in on the mouth, whirls and kicks a bit, then fades softly, while urging one to drink anew. Fresh, mellow, but flush with flavor. Yeast is hard at work at this one, too, but the spices are all over it, tantalizing the tastebuds, and the citrus fruit provides considerable zest. Medium bodied, with a light, fruity finish. Taste is terrific, and mouthfeel is a treat. $7.59 for the bottle, and worth every penny and then some.

Tasted this at the Westende Belgian Beer café, Perth, on the weekend and disappointed to find out that it is another bottled beer they have stopped stocking. Poured into a tall tulip glass, a little too cold, a short fluffy white head forms and lasts, leaving irregular webs of lace down the side. A lot of very fine carbonation kept the large yeast clumps in suspension for the most part amidst its opaque orange gold body. Piney, leafy and toffee-sweet nose, herbal and spicy, with a balance of sour lemon. Sugary sweet upfront in the mouth, tangy and citric. Medium-light bodied and medium in carbonation (not biting). Flavours of toffee, tangerines, yeast, herbs and ground pepper. Finish is long with a sweet citric tang that comes across quite refreshing. Quite a sweet beer, even more amplified as it warms. Not at all a Belgian Wit, in fact I would do my best to say it is in a completely different field. Unique and turned out to be quite a nice drop.

Rich malt hop fruit aroma. Cloudy amber colour with fair head. Thick malt hop fruit flavour. Fizzy palate.