Hoegaarden

Brewed by Brouwerij Hoegaarden (InBev)
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Hoegaarden, Belgium

.33l bottle in Belgrade. Pours a spritely lemony-white with a good head. Nose is lemonade, tea, orange zest and lavender. Sharp, fruity taste with sparkling carbonation. A bit sloppy, wet feel with some dry bittering at the end. Sweet and sour is a good description, a very interesting style of beer. Tasty.

Pours a very pale gold with a bright white head. The head looks as though it should disappear in no time, but it continues to build from the bottom and lasts for quite a while. The aroma is pleasant; a bit sweet with hints of spices. Before going into the flavor I have to admit that white beers are usually not my favorite. However, this beer has enough spice and other flavor to balance out the usual taste of the white beer that I found it quite enjoyable. The flavor is crisp, a bit sweet, with a variety of spices mixed in. The beer doesn’t have as much flavor as I would normally like, but it is easy to drink and is pretty refreshing.

House of Brews: aaaahhhh Witbier! Love this during the summer! And while this beer is a good representation of the style, it’s certainly not the best... The color and head is everythng you’d come to expect from this style: light yellow, white head, lingering, decent lacing. Aroma is of bitter citrus, taste reveals the same... a bit watery, a bit more on the bitter side as well. Bad hangover!!!

Bouteille et fût, à plusieurs reprises. Arômes de blé et de citron, légère touche d’épices. Robe blonde très pâle et trouble, belle mousse qui disparaît rapidement. En bouche, le blé est bien présent avec une légère acidité et des notes citronnées. Belle harmonie des saveurs. La référence du style et toujours une très bonne wit.

How is it possible that I’ve been rating beer this long, but I’ve yet to rate this beer? I know Pierre Celis is some sort of beer luminary who revived the witbier style. But, now there’s so much more to the story...Pierre Celis’s Texas brewery sort of sucked, now that beer is brewed in Michigan (it still sort of sucks), Pierre is in his mid-80’s, and now the witbier is a style that has been sort of over-done into an entry-level craft beer targeting light beer drinkers and a female palate by the likes of Blue Moon and Spotted Cow. So where does that leave Hoegaarden? It’s pretty good! Definitely not over-done, it is superlative in some pretty subtle ways. It isn’t overly sweet like some American imitators, it is brightly yellow with a nice meringue head. Aroma and flavor is slightly sweet with a pleasing amount of Coriander and I dare say offer something that I think is wheatiness. Pretty good, but probably better a generation ago...the same way the first DIPA must’ve been revolutionary...now that every craft brewer has one, I’m a little less impressed.

Pours cloudy pale yellow with a frothy white head that remains for a while. Aroma is lemon, clove, and wheat. Very crisp and refreshing taste. Easy to drink but very sweet so I wouldn’t drink more than one at a time.

Bottle. Pours a very hazy pale yellow with a creamy snow white head that quickly reduces to a ring, good lacing. Nose is lemon candy, soap, wheat, yeast, coriander. Flavor is bright lemon with soap and a tight, spicy finish. Crisp and clean, a great summer beer.

12oz bottle 6/16/09-Pours a hazy yellow with a small white head. Aroma of yeast, coriander, and orange peel. Taste of the same with a bit of citrus coming through. This light bodied brew is definitely one of the better whites made. Great tasting.