Hazy pale golden colour, good frothy white head, good retention and lacing. Restrained aroma, wheat malt, yeast, light lemon, something mineral. Taste medium sweet and mild bitter, malty, light lemon, light banana, floral hops. Medium body, oily texture, soft carbonation, dry sweetbitter aftertaste, orange peel, mineral and spicy notes. Okay as a wheat beer but not convincing as a (hefe)weizen.

33cl bottle. A slightly hazy golden beer with a white head. Aroma of phenols, sweet wheat malt, esters. Taste of spicy bitter hops, wheat malt, some banana, clove, long bitter finish.

One of apparently three 'Badgast' beers by Kompaan, this time intended as a Hefeweizen (contrary to an earlier Belgian witbier version and a non-alcoholic version); longneck bottle from the Albert Heijn supermarket in Hulst. Snow white, very mousy and even somewhat creamy, frothy, thickly cobweb-lacing, medium sized, stable head slowly diminishing over an initially lightly hazy straw blonde beer with warmer apricot tinge. Aroma of halfripe banana (strongly so) and banana peel, fresh pear bread, pan-fried apple slices, old cloves, touch sourdough, baker's yeast, withering grass, raw cauliflower, cooked turnip, sandwiches, vague touches of fresh basil leaf, honey, flour and 'cat pee' (a hint of mercaptans as a result of being lightstruck but fortunately only faintly so). Soft fruity onset, halfripe banana, stewed apple and some pineapple, sweetish but subdued (more so than the average German Hefeweizen even), fizzy carb but in a 'refined' and soft kind of way, minerally side notes, soft and fluffy body; white-bready and lightly soapy-wheaty middle with ongoing banana and pineapple esters, towards a gently spicy finish with seemingly increasing wheat soapiness and a grassy, only mild and short-lived but noticeably floral hop bitter accent which lingers a little bit too long for this style; soft doughy wheatiness and restrained fruity esters (again: halfripe banana) linger along with spicy phenolic aspects, even turning a little bit astringent in the end. Meanwhile, the lightstruck effect (this bottle comes from a supermarket shelf) becomes strong retronasally, ruining whatever subtlety the basic beer could have had - though I highly doubt this basic beer was as subtle as I would like it to have been. Yet another Dutch attempt at Bavarian Hefeweizen failed: at least they got the ingredients right in this case (Hefeweizen does not at all contain added flavourings, contrary to Belgian wit), but the execution leaves much to be desired. Admittedly, since I took this bottle from a random supermarket shelf, I could have expected that it was not going to be in prime condition, though with a brown bottle I was not expecting the debilitating lightstruck effect; still, in trying to evoke the old Bavarian Hefeweizen, this beer lacks complexity, subtlety and balance between fruity and meaty esters on the one hand and spicy and ethereal phenols on the other hand. With all due respect for Kompaan (I had great beers from them and these guys are very enthusiastic and sociable people), this 'bather' only reinforces my opinion that the Dutch, in spite of their feverish attempts at both macro and micro level, better leave the old Hefeweizen alone. If anything, this can be considered 'akin' to the northern German Hefeweizen interpretations in being rather barren and crude, but I doubt that this was the intention. Then again, I should probably re-rate this fresh from tap if I ever come across it.

Not so good

33cl Bottle from AH. Almost clear deep golden colour, white head. Aroma of peas, hint of banana, some soft floral citrusy hop. Flavour of wheat, some green peas, light fruity, light citrusy, soft hoppy, decent bitter finish. Light bodied. Don't think this is any different from the Badgast Witbier tbh.