6.5

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Draught pilsner-ish glass at the brewpub on 1/19/07. Kind of an odd glass to serve it in. Or actually, the narrow body makes sense to highlight the bubbly effervescence, but the blossoming, highly convex mouth neither holds the head, nor the delicate aroma. Oh well.
Small, bubbly white head immediately fizzles to a ring and then nothing, thereafter. Head can hardly be coaxed with swirling. No lacing. Medium-high clarity, certainly transparent, but with a slight haziness from some unflocced yeast. Soft straw-brass body.
Dry grains in the nose show a light huskiness from the base two-row malt. Definite phenols (white pepper, very light plastics) give a distinct and authentic feel to it, while light orange peel adds livliness while not being overdone. Very dry, all the way through, with no soft, comforting honey malt tones that would seem to support my thoughts that there is little/no pils malt in this. But that’s ok because the graininess is very dry and refreshing and the spritziness from the light citrus tang adds substance/complexity in place of pils malt. Don’t get much coriander, which is a good thing, as it’s done very cautiously here. Just a bit of leafy spiciness I suppose. Medium strength of aroma, more dry fruitiness emerges with warming.
Hay, straw, light biscuits and baquette notes all create a very dry beginning. Some sweetness combines with citrus (soft orange and tangerine) notes to produce a more round flavor but the brisk carbonation never allows it to get truly "sweet". Light coriander dryness on the finish with a bit of sweatiness from the yeast (minerals, phenols) gives it unique character making it not just another hoegaarden. Sort of halfway between hogaarden and Ommegang’s ultra-dry, almost saison-like wit. I think more breweries need to experiment with very minimal spicing and see what they can do with this yeast. It’s quite refreshing, with the moderate amounts of acids it puts out and the manageable, reserved esters. Very light body, some wateriness, no alcohol.