REVIEW 65: HOEGAARDEN

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Belgium

BREWERY:  Brouwerij van Hoegaarden

STYLE:  Witbier

ABV:  4.9%

PURCHASE:  Draught (pint), $4.25

SERVING:  Hoegaarden branded hexagonal glass. Not much head from the tap, perhaps half an inch on the first beer; subsequent beers seemed to get even less. Average retention.

APPEARANCE:  Murky yellowish-gold with a sudsy white head. Combined with the blue trim of the Hoegaarden logo on the glass, the total visual effect was reminiscent of a Swedish National Team hockey jersey (see below). Just-okay lacing that is broken and temporary.

BOUQUET:  Aside from the given aroma of wheat, this seemed to give off a scent divided between citrus, banana, and clove. Perhaps a touch of coriander.

PALATE:  Normal carbonation with a deceptive body: Feels relatively light in the moment, but can fill you up fast. Somewhat neutral at the entry. As with a lot of beers, it's mid-palate where things get going: Rising presences of yeast, citrus, and banana in this case. Wheat is there but far less conspicuous. Finish is more or less a yeast-clove blend, but none too dry. The clove factor remains in the aftertaste, where it is joined seemingly by a hint of coriander; hence this is subtly spicy, not peppery. Subtle or not, the spice factor seems to fade out, with the remaining aftertaste a reemergence of banana and citrus (mainly orange rind, but some lemon). One odd aspect of this beer is the sip-to-sip inconsistency; some sips are significantly yeastier, or spicier, or more citrusy, than others.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  One popular variation of Hoegaarden is to add either raspberry syrup or raspberry-flavored beer; this is called a "Dirty Hoe." Nothing wrong with that. But Crockett likes his Hoes clean!

This is a beer that always struck me as kind of hipsterish, albeit in a more cult-like manner; PBR was for "mainstream" hipsters, if you get me. Maybe I'm overanalyzing. As a beer, this never disappoints but never wows, either. So I wouldn't call this the PBR, or Budweiser, of witbiers; more like the Guinness of them, one that has simply been outdone by too much of the competition, but remains decent in its own right. 




GRADE:  B-