The extra spiced Weissbier from these two lovely brewing ladies, from a bottle bought at the Albert Heijn supermarket in Lokeren. Egg-white, dense and creamy, regular head leaving some limited ’paper’ lacing and remaining moussy on the edges whilst dissolving slowly in the middle, over a hazy straw blonde beer with ochre-ish tinge, more misty and warm peachy with sediment added but still looking attractive at that stage. Aroma of banana mush, soapy coriander seed, moist dough, unmistakable juniper berries but fortunately not too obtrusive, dried lemon peel (must be the classic curaçao), molten powder sugar, tulips (not necessarily from Amsterdam), young cheese, hints of phenolic aniseed, ripe pear, pineapple slices, cooked potato, apricot, chamomile tea, green plum, baker’s yeast and, alas, some very vague DMS far away in the background but not succeeding in escaping my DMS-hating nose. Fruity onset with the banana ester dominating (as expected from anything Weizen-like), sweet pineapple and ripe pear notes as well as a soft sourish gooseberry aspect later on reinforced by the basic sourishness of the spelt and - less so - the wheat, in an initially quite spritzy, but adequately carbonated environment, quite refreshing. Bready malt sweetishness and soapy, softly sourish wheatiness rule the middle phase, with the spelt accentuating the wheat souring aspect without becoming too grainy, carrying the banana ester onwards to a mildly drying finish, in which a subtle bready yeastiness appears underneath the expected retronasal impressions of coriander seed, old dry citrus peel having lost a lot of its uplifting aromas and, of course, the juniper berries, which add a gin-like touch but somehow manage not to completely overrule the classic witbier spicing; they do add a very notable resinous wryness on the root of the tongue in the end, along with a modest dash of earthy but otherwise ’colourless’ and merely structural hops - as it should be in a ’tarwedubbel’. Alcohol adds a certain glow as well, but only very faintly so - fortunately. Decent wheat ale, in all: I feared that the juniper berries would be much more agressive - a thing I hate since I encountered it in several recent Belgian beers (Hop(e)less Ginny, I’ll never forget it) - but in this particular case, they add a wryness on top of the tongue as well as aroma, but seem to live in relative harmony with the coriander and the curaçao (though the latter still remains understated and could have been a more refreshing factor if it had been applied more generously). Stylistically, this is a kind of hybrid between the two most classic wheat ale genres: Belgian witbier because of its very obvious spicing and perhaps also the spelt, and German Weissbier because of the use of malted wheat, though in all, it is the first of these two which dominates the second. If I had to explain this beer to less ’geeky’ friends, I’d therefore associate it closer to witbier than to Weissbier, but an accomplished one in that particular segment, to be preferred over e.g. Hoegaarden, to name just one example...

33 cl. bottle @ home, bought @ Albert Heijn Culemborg. Hazy yellow with a big white head. Wheat aroma with orange, coriander and juniper berries. Taste and mouthfeel is that of a typical German weizen but the fruit and herbs really work in this one. Nice summer beer.

330 ml. bottle sampled. Purchased @ AH. BBF 10FEB18. Hazy orange, creamy white head. Very bland nose, orange peel, sweet banana soap, very weak, overly sweet Hefeweizen. Taste is hugely bland, sugar, soap, DE yeast, largely very plain dull soap, sugar,... Body is the same. Brewery name is still the same. Added spices sound boring, dull standard BE spices actually largely orange peel, coriander seeds, juniper berry,... They are virtually absent from the taste, maybe a vague illusion of juniper berry in the finish but that is largely just the illusion. Very weak Hefeweizen beer at best, sub par as was the case for the previous 2 beers tried from this brewery.

Draught @ Taproom, Nieuw Vijzelstraat 1, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1017HT. [ As Gebrouwen Door Vrouwen Gin Weizen ].Unclear hazy matt medium yellow color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white to white head. Aroma is light to moderate malty, wheat, pale malt, light hoppy, moderate yeasty, weizen yeast, fruity yeast, banana, bubble gum, clove. Flavor is moderate sweet and light bitter with a long duration, clove, banana, bubble gum, weizen yeast, fruity yeast. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20160904] 6-3-7-3-14

On tap at Cafe de Bonte Koe Leiden. Cloudy pale gold lasting white head. Spicy wheat beer. Lemon. Wheat. Some softness some good drinkability. Simple pleasant. Good on a hot muggy night. I love Leiden. Then again i loved Den Haag last year. Bar with great character. A little gin flavour maybe. Some sweetness.

On tap at Arendsnest in Amsterdam. Pours a hazy blond with a strong white head. Aroma is slightly sour, flowery, spicy, slightly smokey. Taste is the same. Good for refreshment.

Bottle at home. Hazy pale golden with white head. Sweet malts, banana aroma, coriander, some light fruity sourness, doughiness, citrus peels, yeast. Medium sweet, light bitter. Medium to full body, quite thick mouthfeel, average carbonation and a long finish that fades from sweet to light bitter. Nothing wrong with this, pretty good actually. A bit too sweet for my personal pleasure, and too much witbier aroma’s in this weizen. But nonetheless a good taste and smooth feel.

Bottle at home. Hazy light yellow with bright white head. Banana, bubblegum, strawberry jelly, light lemon rind, spruce, lots of dough, light cream and some dried fruits. Medium sweet. Medium bodied with creamy feel. Nice fruity weizen, better than I expected.

0.33 l bottle from ’Tabak’s Wijndiscount & Bierwinkel’, bottled in January 2017. Hazy, pale straw yellow with a medium large, dense, stable, white head. Sweetish, yeasty-spicy aroma of banana, clove and wheat. Sweetish, yeasty-spicy taste of banana, clove, vanilla, some juniper and hints of coriander, followed by a short, slightly bitter, yeasty-spicy finish. Medium body, smooth and slightly spritzy mouthfeel, lively carbonation. Fairly typical Weizen, the gin taste is very subtle which is probably good. Reminds a bit of The Monarchy’s Preußen Weisse. Easily drinkable and refreshing though, quite nice!