FRÜLI ~ BROUWERIJ HUYGHE

Früli is a Belgian Wheat beer (70%) with strawberries (30%). It is brewed in a 300-year-old brewery that has been in the De Laet family for 100 years. Barley malt and wheat are first heated in water using the ‘infusion mash method.’ The mixture is then boiled with coriander, hops and dried orange peels. Yeast is then added for a top fermentation. Strawberry juice is added for the second fermentation of ten days. The beer is then matured for another ten days before bottling.
The beer pours a slightly hazy pinkish-red, with a white head. It smells of fresh strawberries and not much else. The strawberry smell is not artificial or chemically, just fresh strawberries. The taste is much the same. Loads of fresh strawberry jam at the front with a little tartness at the end. This really doesn’t taste like beer at all. I’d have this as a dessert beer, but couldn’t commit to pints of it as it is very sweet.
4.1% from Melle (near Ghent), Belgium
-beer 89-

BROKEN HIPSTER ~ INDIE ALE HOUSE

Broken Hipster is a traditional Belgian Wit.  Indie ale house brews it with rose, lavender, ginger, orange and ‘other stuff.’  The beer pours a murky unfiltered light gold.  Nose is banana, bubble gum and spice.  Flavour is yeasty/bready with citrus, clove, bubble gum and very subtle peppercorn.  I wish that some of the herbs would pack more of a punch, but this is a very drinkable wit for a hot summers day. Very enjoyable!

5% from Toronto, Ontario  

IBU 25 to 30
-beer 88-