Takau Belgian Witbier
Takau Brewery

Courtesy of the super-generous brewer, Barley Chung. Barley said the beer is based on the traditional recipe and concept behind the classic Hoegaarden, so the essential ingredients are not much different. Coming in a 350ml can, unfiltered and unpasteurised. Packaged on 01/10/2007, BB 01/12/2007, served lightly chilled in a large bulb wine glass.

A: golden hue with orangey glows, unlike any witbier I've tried; the beer head is almost non-existent, on a par with equally subdued carbonation. Has the packaging process been compromised in any way, hence the flat appearance?
S: a softly tuned herbal+flowery aroma of coriander seeds comes in abundance upfront, but a closer sniff reveals more subtle aromas: lightly sweet dried orange-peels, stinky wild honey, faint vanilla, Saaz-like grassiness, and English Pale Malt's biscuity notes, sprinkled with faint fennel-like herbal notes and, surprisingly, peatiness. With the use of a strain of US ale-yeast, the overall aroma reminds me more of some English honey pale ales than of a classic witbier.
T: replacing the normal wheat-ish foretaste of a witbier, upfront comes a thin-ish flavour of a mildly tart tinge of fermenting juice, before the aftertaste takes over with a deeper layer of (mainly) nutty&biscuity malts, hop grassiness and a rather thin flavour of malted wheats. Mildly chewy & dry in the finish, with very limited bitterness.
M&D: very limited carbonation is stays intact, yet still with a sign that the ale is largely tired. The body is light-med. upfront, before going really thin due to the late entry of wheatiness. Despite the ingredients in line with a classic witbier, I can't get rid of a feeling that this is more like a hybrid of old English Wheat+Honey Pale Ale with additional herbs. All in all, I sincerely congratulate Barley for re-inventing an old style! While drinking this ale, one simply can't judge it by the standard of a classic witbier, though.