Hoegaarden Verboden Vrucht

Brewed by Brouwerij Hoegaarden (InBev)
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Hoegaarden, Belgium

I feel that Hoegaarden has some of the same flawers in all there beers. This one has a bit more body then the light version.

A red ale with a fruity flavour, and a good balance between the sweet and bitter elements in it. Bottle conditioned, which means yeasty particles. The yeast is hardly noticeable in the taste, except as a nice aftertaste on the tongue. If you want to introduce a friend to the wonderful beer experiences beyond lager, this could be a good candidate. (But your friend may lose his legs, as the flavour camouflages the alcohol content of 8, 5 %!)

Bottle at home. 8.5% Version. Some head. Thick, red-brownish with a malty flavor. Smells of apples, tastes of cherries and other fruits. Another great Belgian ale.

ABV 8,5% Version. Surprisingly vague aroma in spite of what I would have thought, but some plums and caramel can be noticed. Malty and sweet taste with cherries and plums, and obvious alcohol. Actually rather typical belgian strong ale taste. Nice balance between the alcohol, hops, and sweetness. Alcoholic and hopped aftertaste with a little sweetness.

Mahogany brown with small creamy beige head, good balanced carbonation. Fruity aromas, obviously. Very smooth palate, disguises it’s Al% well.

Colour: drak red. Orange citrus nose with yeast tones. Dark rusty hue with small floaters and a decent head. Orange, pear malt and yeast flavour with a alcoholic kick.

Pours light reddish and brown with a mostly receding off-white head. Aroma of caramelized fruit, sweet esters with notes of plums and dates. Taste is fruity, sweet, and yeasty. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and slightly sticky with lively carbonation. Pretty nice!

I have long cherished Hoegaarden as something of a friend. Their Witbier was the very first drink I had that showed me how dynamic beer could really be. That was partly by chance – any stout or lambic could have been “the first” but for me it was Hoegaarden’s wit. And why not? It had a vastly different taste from pale lagers, was soft and gentle, it looked European and was easy to dissect; the perfect pair of training wheels for a cumbersome beer taster. But, despite their hallowed place in my heart, and for all the caring feelings I had for Hoegaarden, I really knew nothing about the beer or its place of origin. Hoegaarden became tantamount to all witbier. The silver, yellow and blue attire of all Hoegaarden bottles became the standard for the style. It was a monolith and a monomania, giving one beer one name and vice versa. That is why Verboden Vrucht was quite the eye opener. I never suspected that Hoegaarden had trespassed the boundaries I had set for it and brewed a Belgian ale, but it is a welcome transgression. While their witbier may be a delicate and simple brew, the Verboden Vrucht is muddied and complex, combining sweet and dark flavors that marks Belgian and Belgian Strong ales. It is a dark auburn beer, tracing a gray outline in the glass that leaves little light to flatter itself with. The head is drained sandy color, billowing up after the pour but quickly deflating by the time the drinker is prepared. It is a curiously macabre beer, sitting quietly like a still puddle, echoing with placidity. Indeed, it makes for a brilliant façade for the buzzing aromas and flavors. Though I was impaired by the handicap of a cold, the Verboden Vrucht still bubbled with tantalizing smells. Most apparent was a singularly distinct red wine character laced with a cocoa rich chocolate. A spritz of brussel sprouts and a puff of spices (spice unknown) rounded off a curious but delightful smell. The taste is smooth and soft, tingling with a low key grape sweetness like that in the smell. This scintillating opening dribbles into a semi-soft drumming of dark fruit flavors and a light yeasty complexion, then tapering to a mellow sweet coffee and chocolate fig epilogue. All flavor thereafter quickly evaporates. Most remarkable is that opening tingle. It’s not too robust, but nicely ignites the tongue. It is also a sensation I’ve never experienced within the family of Belgian ales. Verboden Vrucht becomes sweeter as it warms but loses some of its charismatic sparkle, instead embracing a deeper and darker complex of flavors. These flavors stimulate a sense of comfortable satisfaction, like mulling over a good book in a comfortable chair. Or maybe fondly reminiscing over that original Hoegaarden long long ago – that first bottle that started my amiable relationship with beer I enjoy today.