Let's be honest - beer's quite a love-it-or-hate-it sort of drink. With most alcoholic beverages, the hardest part is getting past the alcoholic sting or tinge, but once you're gotten past that, a world of flavours await you.

Beer's alittle different - and you can blame hops for that. Hops are cone-shaped flowers that grow from the hop plant - pretty straightforward. It is what's use to bitter beers as well as give beers their citrusy, fruity, or what-have-you flavors. They're also responsible for the the "skunky" smell that beers have - in fact, when hops are boiled down in the making of beer, these acids are actually identical to a skunk's spray. So next time you feel put off by beers, don't let your friends gaslight you - it's not you, it's the hops.

You can blame it on the hops.

That combination of skunkiness and bitterness is primarily what throws people off and makes beers alittle harder to love.

And guess what - some beer makers know that. Hoegaarden, basically a household name when it comes to beers, focuses entirely on making beers that de-emphasises hops, in a style known as Witbier.

Witbier focuses on the use of raw wheat rather than wheat malt, and goes through top fermentation (the inverse is called bottom fermentation), where the yeast used floats to the top (hence top fermentation) giving it a hazy or white appearance. This was a style that was famous in the region of Hoegaarden, which as you might've guessed is what the brand is named after.

The historic region of Hoegaarden.

The Belgian region of Hoegaarden had made witbiers since the Middle Ages (that's some 500 years ago!). Witbier-making was particularly popular and the region really proliferated in breweries. However, by the 1950's, the last brewery would close its doors. This nonetheless inspired Pierre Celis, a milkman who grew up next to the last Witbier brewery and had even spent some time helping out in making the Witbiers.

Pierre later decided that it would be a shame for the style of beer he had known all his life to be washed away, and decided to start his own brewery. In his recipe, he would also add coriander and dried Curaçao orange peels to his Witbiers. This turned out to be quite the success.

Coriander and Curacao orange peels are Hoegaarden's secret sauce.

Unfortunately, several decades later, a major fire broke out and Pierre found himself needing some help. Much to his relief, the largest brewer in Belgium at the time, Interbrew, had stepped in to help. However, this became quite the sore spot for Pierre as he began to feel that Interbrew had started to use its IOU against him, pressuring him to change his recipe to cater to a broader palate.

Pierre decided he would sell his brewery and move to the US, where he'd set up a new brewery, named Celis Brewery in Austin, Texas. 

Years later, when Interbrew had merged with AmBev to form InBev, the new entity had initially decided to close the Hoegaarden brewery and move production over to another brewery in the Jupille municipality of Belgium. Nonetheless brewers there weren't too happy with the move, and so InBev had decided to keep the Hoegaarden brewery alive, where the namesake brand is still produced today.

And so with that let's give two of Hoegaarden's Witbiers a go - the Rosée and the Peach.

Hoegaarden Biere Blanche Rosee - Review

Hoegaarden says that the Rosée was inspired by jam jars from which Belgians sip their beers out of when beer glasses were in short supply. "A hint of jam left behind on the jar created a delightful flavour and aroma". 

The Rosée label is made by blending the classic Hoegaarden recipe with raspberry juices.

Tasting Notes

Color: Light Raspberry Jam

Aroma: Light flecks of hay and gentle touches of raspberry - alittle sweet and a little tart. Fairly mild.

Taste: Smooth, with a good creaminess - gentle green notes of hops, with more soft notes of Ribena blackcurrant cordial. It’s silky with a good amount of effervescence. It’s likely reminiscent of blackcurrant Redoxon vitamin C infused drink. Light touches of hawthorn flakes too.

Finish: Almost a jelly-like raspberry jam - sweet, soft, really fruity. 

My Thoughts

This is ridiculously easy to drink with very soft, fruity notes all around. It has gentle aromas, with a nice almost nostalgic blackcurrant taste on the palate, but the finish is really where it stands out with this sweet, soft, really fruity raspberry jam that emerges.

It’s so easy to drink, you barely notice the alcohol, or that it’s beer in fact. Fantastic stuff! 

Hoegaarden Biere Blanche Peach - Review

Hoegaarden says that the use of peach is inspired by the peaches found in village markets across Belgium during the summer season. The Hoegaarden Peach label is a blend of the classic Hoegaarden recipe alongside peach juice.

Tasting Notes

Color: Orange Smoothie

Aroma: A really aromatic fuzzy peach, with just a hint of cough syrup. Really saccharine and estery!

Taste: Smooth peach juice, with more honey syrup, and a light touch of straw.  It has a thick heavy texture that's silky smooth.

Finish: Clean, with more of that perfumery fruity peach. More on those honeyed graham crackers, with just a very light bit of wheat biscuits and a touch of bitterness.

My Thoughts

This was super aromatic, super peachy - not ever cloying but fruity and sweet, with a nice balance of malt and straw that counterbalances the sweet peach.

So, so enjoyable, albeit quite sweet and not one for fans of that beer hoppy bitterness. 

Overall

Both of the Hoegaarden Rosée and Peach were just phenomenal - incredibly fresh and fruity, super smooth and aromatic - and basically doesn't taste remotely like beer, which is a lifesaver for folks who aren't that into crushing beers but have to do it anyway, this one's for you.

I really enjoyed how natural their aromas were and that they surprisingly never got cloying and had really only the faintest of bitterness, you'd more than likely miss it. 

So there you go, folks who're just getting into beers or need something to get through a drinking sesh with friends, go for the Hoegaarden Rosée or Peach, thank me later.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot