Blanche des Honnelles 1979

Blanche des Honnelles 1979 is billed as a “Dubble Wit”. It’s a 6% wheat beer from the Belgian Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs. Sold in 330mL bottles, the beer is a dull bronze colour. It pours with an almost non-existent white head.

1979 has a hefty sweet wheat and yeast aroma. The flavour is also quite sweet—it has a yeasty vibe with notes of citrus, banana, and spice. The finish remains fairly sweet and has spicy, with not a lot of bitterness.

 

Honestly, I didn’t love this beer. I found its limited carbonation to be a major drawback. Similarly, the flavour was not nearly as assertive as I was hoping for. The double wit style—if there is such a thing—isn’t one that I have any experience with, but if 1979 is an exemplar, I’m not keen to dig much deeper. To my mind, witbiers ought to be crisp and light. Adding weight doesn’t totally float my boat. That said, if you’re a witbier zealot, this stuff might be really interesting to you.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

Joufflue

My darling frère brought me home a couple of cans from a Montreal brewery, Archibald, following a recent work posting in La Belle Province. First up, Joufflue, a 4.2% wheat beer brewed with Hallertauer and Magnum hops and sold in 473mL cans.

Joufflue proved to be a dull gold beer; hazy with a thick and durable white head. Yeasty and a bit fruity, there was also a whisper of pilsner-style graininess in the aroma. The flavour was quite agreeable, and bigger than the sessionably low percentage led me to expect. With a yeasty profile and a bit of initial sweetness, the finish caught me off guard—slightly perfumed and decidedly bitter (seeming more substantial than the listed 12 IBUs).

This Quebecois wheat beer delivers a flavourful, light-bodied, and crisp take on the style. My only misgiving is the front end, which is a bit brittle—depth there and this would be an elite wheat beer.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Im-Peach-Ment Tart & Peachy Wit

Walking down the aisle of a Victoria, BC beer shop, I spotted a 473mL can of Im-Peach-Ment Tart & Peachy Wit and needed it to come home with me. The can was plain, but a name like that is worthy of a purchase every time. Brewed in Kamloops, BC, the 5%, 10 IBU wheat ale is made by Red Collar Brewing Co. The beer was strikingly clear, which seemed strange for a wheat bear. It had a sunny gold colour and poured with a thin layer of white suds.

Brewed using those fuzzy, juicy round guys, Im-Peach-Ment had a tangy nose that incorporated yeast, wheat and a wallop of peaches. The mouthfeel was initially thin, but picked up steam toward the peachy hind end. The flavour kicked off with the watery sweetness of a peach tea, but closed out with some unripened peach tartness.

Cute name aside, the beer was just pretty good. It was a bit short of body, and the flavour was agreeable, but a bit wispy.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Brews From the Six: Belgian Wit

I don’t often find cause to use my witbier glasses during the winter months, but I made an exception for The Six Brewing Co.’s Belgian Wit, so that I could complete my quartet of reviews. Clocking in at 5% alcohol, 6BW is a nicely carbonated golden grog—less cloudy than many beers in the style—under a fluffy white head.

6BW has a cheery banana and yeast scent. It tastes somewhat similar, with a lot of banana esters. Like a classic witbier, this Belgian-style ale has some spicy notes, in the form of clove. However, these aren’t as robust as in some of my fave wits.

I suspect that 6BW will be a big hit in the steamy summer months. On a seasonably chilly March afternoon, it was a bit out of place, though I liked it well enough. If I were pulling the levers, I’d have upped the spice quotient, though that would have sacrificed some of the beer’s quaffability.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

La Blanche du Fjord

One of the many joys of my blessed union with the Bitter Wife is a primo set of in-laws. Great folks who'll bring you beer when they visit, my mother- and father-in-law are tops. On a recent visit, they brought me a couple of bottles, including a 660mL bomber of La Blanche du Fjord. This witbier comes from Chicoutimi, Quebec, where it's brewed by La Tour à Bières. It's a 5% alcohol brew that, if my French isn't failing me, is flavoured with citrus and coriander--sounds like a Belgian-style wit to me.

The beer imitially poured cloudy gold with a milky hue, but as I got to the bottom of the bottle, some orange-brown sediment entered the mix. The aroma was yeasty, fruity, and a touch spicy. There was a thin yet smooth mouthfeel and a mild flavour that danced between wheat, yeast, orange rind, and banana. No bitterness at all featured in La Blanche, which gave it a fine level of refreshment.

La Blanch du Fjord was a pretty tasty micro from QC. It could have been a bit less sediment-heavy, and I wouldn't have minded a bit more body, but I enjoyed it well enough. I'm certainly grateful it found its way to me.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Black Bellows' White

In an extremely stylish 500mL bottle comes Black Bellows' White, a 5% alcohol beer brewed in Collingwood, Ontario by Black Bellows Brewing Co. Billed as a take on the Belgian wit, "with a hint of elderflower", this stuff sounded pretty good to me.

The brew initially poured clear, but after a swirl and a secondary pour, the beer took on the cloudy, yeasty look of a conventional wit. It's aroma was yeast-focused, but built around a potent fragrance of spices. Thin at first, the mouthfeel picked up steam on the back end. Flavour was spicy, yet refreshing.

Black Bellows' White was a tasty take on the popular Belgian style. Not particularly memorable, but certainly not flawed in any way, this was simply a well made beer.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

New Limburg Wit

My sixth and final installment from my visit to the New Limburg Brewing Co. was their wit. A Belgian-style white beer, this beer was brewed using coriander, orange peel, and camomile. The 500mL bottle features a fast-moving bride, though whether she's bolting to or from the alter is left unsaid.

The milky, yellow-gold concoction poured with a nice white head. It contained a low octane 4.8% alcohol, which made for mellow sipping. The nose had some yeasty qualities, as well as a warm blast of citrus. Fruit notes crowded the flavour as well, with notes of orange peel and banana doing the most work. The beer finished yeastily, but also quite refreshingly.

Like most witbiers, New Limburg's Wit was a classic summer beer--easy to drink, light, refreshing, and possessed of nice, cheery taste. This brew from Nixon, Ontario was a good wit, though one with little to distinguish itself from the pack. I definitely liked it though.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.