Clear golden, small, foamy, white head. Aroma of apple peel, bread crust, mandarin, clove, yeast, corn, unripe pear. Taste has sweet pear, apple & unripe banana, yeasty, bready and corn-like maltiness, some spicy clove. Grassy & peppery hoppy finish, lingering yellow fruit and corn, dryish. Medium body, slick texture, average carbonation. Acceptable... but there's always something I don't really like about this brewery.

In spite of VBDCK's intentions to stay away from Belgian traditions, their latest creation is this witbier, spiced with coriander as the tradition prescribes, but also with lemon peel replacing the classic curaçao - a 'blanche' with a little twist, so to speak, adding to a string of similar beers from many years past, in which the almighty Hoegaarden standard was cautiously tinkered with by slightly altering the spicing, or even omitting it altogether (think of Abbaye des Rocs' classic Blanche des Honnelles, for example). This one has a medium thick, snow white, rather creamy ('wheaty'), irregularly lacing, quite dense and stable head and misty warm 'old-golden' robe (clearly darker blonde than most other witbieren) with a string of enthusiastic sparkling in the middle, turning fully hazy and a shade darker blonde even with the sediment added. Aroma of freshly baked bread (crust), crackers, coriander seed, unripe peach, dried apple peel, dusty old dried out lemon peel, lemonbalm from an old herbarium, straw, cooked turnip, rainwater, mugwort, cold French fries and a faint background touch of DMS (cooked Brussels sprouts) but faint enough not to annoy me too much. Fruity, restrainedly sweet onset, hints of unripe peach and vague banana peel again, quite soft carbonation for the style but with minerally spring- and rainwater-like effects edging a smooth, slick body; clear bready barley, bread crust- and cracker-like, mixed with very subtly sourish and soapy wheat, but the barley clearly has a lot more to say than the wheat here in comparison with other witbieren - probably because the brewery opted for malted wheat here rather than raw wheat, which makes a very big difference and deviates from the Hoegaarden standard, instead drawing inspiration from German Weissbier. Spicy elements in the finish indeed, outspoken clove-like phenols interfering with the actual spicing, but the refreshing qualities of the lemon peel and that soapy-spicy effect from coriander seed are both very clearly recognisable. Surprisingly, however, the finish is even more dominated by a long, rooty, peppery hop bitterness, and even when the minerally and spicy effects linger about, it is this bitterness that quenches the thirst the most. The hops are obvious enough in the nose, too, so this is, in hindsight, probably what most distinguishes this Organic Wit from the Hoegaarden witbier standard, which is typically and traditionally only very softly and subtly hopped (and probably were even unhopped centuries ago in the earliest phase of their history). In all, a refreshing beer indeed (though this probably would have worked better a few months from now - it is still February, after all), a very solid addition to the modern list of hoppy Belgian wheat beers; 'witbier' could indeed create wrong expectations from those who loved the style back when it was still popular, as this interpretation is far removed from the classic Hoegaarden standard. Pleasantly surprised!

Good, very dense & fine, stable light yellowish head over veiled golden beer with some lace. Floral nose, fresh green leaves, weeds, hops, some esters. Dry, bitterish, weeds and a meaty ester reminiscent of bacon fry. Faintly toasted, yeasty, musk. Short dry finish. Feels well-carbonated, alleviating the body. Slick. Gives a not-quite-finished impression, despite the high carbonation. OK. Thanks to Stef!

Bottle on 5th February 2022 from La Belgique Gourmande, Brussels. Pours hazy coppery amber with heavy off-white foam. Spicy grapefruit zest in aroma. Tart grapefruit to the fore in-mouth with nuttiness in the background. Both flavour foci linger in a finish leaving the drinker wanting more. Full bodied with an engaging texture.

Bottle picked up from Bier Paradjis, Maarssen nr Utrecht, Netherlands and consumed at home Wednesday 19th January 2022 listening to Steve Lamaq on 6Music and cooking Cordon Bleu Schnitzel with Rosemary Potatoes, also making an Italian Tomato Sauce and Pork and Beef Polpettes, homemade Coleslaw and Delia's Spicy Red Cabbage recipe (we're super busy). Pours gold, light gold with a light haze and a white head. Dry with a slight tart edge, honey is if anything subtle. There is a little furry rub across the roof of the mouth, not at all sweet, gets better. It's a decent.

Reddish brown colour with quick fading head. Aroma and flavour are packed with sweet raisins. Lots of bready, nutty rye too.

33cl bottle. A minimal hazy yellow golden beer with a white head. Aroma of sweet wheat malt, citrus, banana and grains. Taste of citrus, sweet wheat malt, yeast, moderate bitterness and carbonation.