6.6

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 8

Belgian witbier not just containing pale barley malt and unmalted wheat, but also einkorn, a primitive wheat species - the name of which in Dutch sounds quite a lot like 'eekhoorn' (squirrel) which I assume explains the name of the beer. Seemingly one of the first real BRAUW beers, as the head brewer created it during his training as a microbrewer at the Syntra school in Leuven. Thick and creamy, thickly plaster-lacing, snow white, densely moussey, firm and stable head on an initially lightly misty, yellowish straw blonde beer with pale golden tinge and lots of visible sparkling, turning hazy with sediment. Aroma of lavender-scented white hand soap (strongly so!), soapy coriander further accentuating the overall soapiness, white bread dough, chamomile, unripe pear, green banana, raw Kohlrabi, hints of white celery, acacia honey, touch orange flesh faraway in the background, moist grass, Jerusalem artichoke, gypsum. Quite crisp onset, bit estery with notes of unripe pear, green banana and raw Kohlrabi, spritzy carbonation with minerally effects, underlying wheat (and einkorn) sourishness and graininess but generally very slick in the middle, with pale malts (as in pale lager) joining the slickness of the wheat and the einkorn. The inherent soapiness of both grains comes to full development towards the finish, where added spices further amplify this effect - almost certainly good ole coriander seed, but tasting lavender-like as well, to the point where I have the impression that I just swallowed a liquid poured from a glass that was washed in white hand soap and badly rinced afterwards. This annoying soapiness goes on and on, past a light floral hop bitterish touch, lingering 'green' fruitiness and a light phenolic yeast spiciness; something citrus peel-like is there as well, but far less strongly so than the coriander. In all, a classically devised 'blanche' with the one deviating element of einkorn having been added, but somehow it turned out much too soapy to be truly enjoyable - too much coriander, I guess. Witbier is never going to be my preferred style but this is a mere personal taste and I can distinguish a good one from a bad one - this one is admittedly technically flawless which in itself will certainly got this guy a degree in microbrewing (or craft brewing as we call it nowadays - Syntra needs to update their course material from time to time), but I cannot say that such an overwhelming soapiness in aroma and taste is something I can hugely enjoy... Not my thing, but doubtlessly many witbier drinkers (if that still exists today) can appreciate it; and who knows, maybe it can be used as the starting point of a host of sweetened witbier-based fruit beers like Floris or Mystic - but I probably should not give this brewery any ideas...