Struise Witte

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Creamy, mid-sized white head. Cloudy off-white/golden body with orange hues, looks pulpy. Good retention throughout the duration. Tropical fruit notes bring in the aroma, with noble hops, and soft grains. the focal point of the fruit is pineapple(esters), banana(wheat) and orange(coriander), a combination that blends together to seem almost like the juice that contains these three fruits you’d find on a supermarket shelf. Alcohol is not noticeable. Hints of wheated malt round out the nose. Wheat is far more apparent in the flavor, which is quite tart. Some background citric acidity captures and restrains overzealous yeast. Lactic notes present. The mouthfeel is smooth, milky and slightly grainy. Finish is smooth, but far from clean; rather, it’s a clouded cluster of spicy wheat and yeast with hints of fruit. Pretty tasty but not something I’m interested in sampling again.

330 ml bottle. Beautiful apperance; A dense and stable white head over a hazy greyish yellow body. Lots of ripe banana in the aroma along with notes of perfume, bubblegum and sweetish wheat. Clean and rounded taste; sweet citrus, mild spices and malt/wheat. Proper body. Smooth mouthfeel. Appears as a successful mixture of a German Weisse and a Belgian Wit. Very inviting, very drinkable.

Bottle sampled on 3/12/07: Pours a clear pale golden with an airy, frothy white head. Aroma of sweet pale Belgian malt with a touch of coriander. Starts mildly sweet with a nice, earthy, bready dry yeasty balance with nice light spice. A very drinkable and enjoyable wit.

Oddly warm and humid in Brussels today, and my 33 cL bottle on my front porch poors a hazy gold-yellow with a rocky, disappearing head. Light, yeasty aroma with some faint lemon and cereals. Flavor has some light sourness and mild bitterness, a bit peppery. No strong flavors in any direction. Light mouthfeel, somewhat thin. Nicely dry. No obvious spicing or silliness. Just a refreshing and well-made witbier. Would be a fine summertime session beer.

33cL bottle. Nice springtime witbier. Poured slightly hazy, orange/straw colour and a white head. The head quickly dissolved. Slightly thin mouthfeel but a crisp finish. Above average offering for witier though.

Bottle. Unclear orange/golden colour with a white head. Aroma is malt, caramel, spices. Flavour is spices, orange, malt, caramel.

Pours a light golden color with a nice bubbly white head. The head was very sticky, but dissapated rather quickly. The smell was of spices, maltiness and a metalic hint to it. The taste didn’t thrill me, a little to watery or something. I tasted malt, wheat and spices. Decent Witbier.

Bottled. We had a mini-tasting at Sigmunds hotel-room before we went to a beer-dinner, and this one and the Kloeke blond from the same brewery volcanoed all over the floor. Poor cleaning lady. Well, when we finally had some in our glasses, it looked a bit unclear, golden-orange and with a nice, white head. Quite malty nose for a wit, with caramel and a weak hoppiness. Malt, caramel and some spicy hints in the flavor. Medium body and a short finish with malt and some hops. A bit too malty for a wit, and a much more interesting aroma than flavor. The volcano-like behaviour when we opened it, was probably due to the too high serving temperature. (070317)