Hoegaarden

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

Draught in Hoegaarden glass (great for asthetics!). Cloudy, very pale yellow, almost white. Slighly fruity (orange, maybe a little banana too?), spicy, wheaty, and yeasty in both aroma and flavor. Light on the palate and easy to drink. Not too sweet, not too sour, not too spicy - Everything is just right for the style. A great beer that’s widely available. Flavors become more pronounced and complex as the beer warms. 16 oz draught, $6.25 (with glass) at the Winking Lizard Tavern (Crossroads).

Very refreshing beer. However has no palate at all. Very fruity and cloudy.

0.33 l bottle. Hazy pale straw color with small long lasting head. Perfumed nose with lemon, pepper, coriander, wheat and herbs. The flavor is grainy, peppery, lemony and herbal with distinctive coriander note which gives a somewhat soapy and woody edge. Light, slighly watery palate, very refreshing. Pleasant but not one of my favourite wits.

Bottle. Cloudy pale yellow. A nice foamy head that laced out. Citrusy coriander aroma. There is a nice carbonated feel, but the flavor was more watery than I expected. Refreshing but without the substance I wanted.

Pleasant floral aromas on the nose,cloudy pale colour with a nice and full white head, the taste was mild spice,clove,coriander and banana. Not a full bodied beer but a very pleasant one.

I’ve been enjoying witbiers since I’ve been aware of their existence, and yet this is my first time sampling "the original".Color: a cloudy, almost opaque pale yellow/bright white. Head: thick, lacey, white, fluffy as a cloud, slowly tumbling down. Aroma: uplifting, light and lovely! Full of citrus, spice, lemon/orange...wide open, spacious, airy, friendly and hospitable. All that in an aroma? Yes, Indeed! A great big barrage of hops charges the palate at first, along with the gritty, grainy wheat texture. After that attack, very smooth and mellow. Light in body,and feeling, but rich in flavor, character, and soul. An utter delight every time it touches the tongue! An overall honey flavor dominates the remainder of the drink, and the delicious hops, the texture, the spice, continue to dance on the palate and provide for a richly rewarding refreshment. When other folks talk of "nothing beating a Bud Light/Corona/generic yellowy water" on a hot summer’s day, they would be wiser to wrap their lips around a glass of Hoegaarden. Wiser, happier, more improved in all aspects as a human being! What a beautiful beer!

Did I just have an off bottle? Did my tastes change? It hasn't been that long since I had this beer, and I remembered loving it. This one poured the cloudy pale yellow that I was expecting, but the head died fast and abruptly. The flavor was close to what I remember, orange followed by coriander, but the wheat field that I recalled was strangely lacking. Light bodied, as was expected, but a bizarre, biting astringency that lasted throughout the glass. Coriander came through more as it warmed. Disappointing, will need to rerate when I know I have a fresh bottle. RERATE, 6/18/03, just had it last week on draft, that was the beer I remembered. Beautiful wheat flavor, well balanced spiciness, none of the astringency from the bottle I had recently had, and a pretty lacing head to boot. Much better. Original ratings were 8/4/7/2/15.

Tap. Nice banana and lemony yeastiness in the aroma. Crisp and fresh. Hazy light blonde color with a white head. Citrus, lemons, bananas to start with some creaminess following. Sweet, crisp, and refreshing to finish. Despite being macro’ed with InBev, this is still a classic beer and should be a benchmark for all witbiers.