Organic Wheat Beer
Black Isle Brewery Co Ltd

 

 

 

500ml bottle bought from Gapwines, Belfast..

Poured a cloudy pale golden straw colour. White head poured big thick and foamy and faded slowly to thick frothy layer.. lots of sticky lacing... carbonation bubbles rush to the surface...

Aroma - Spicy and citrusy, light biscuity malts, apple traces, salty hints, floral / grassy, some very light honey sweetness, some cinnamon, perfumey...

Taste - Nice spiciness (cloves, coriander), grassy, floral hops, no real maltiness, faint lemon fruitiness, herbal notes, some vanilla creaminess, lots of wheatiness, some yeastiness...

M&D - Sharp and dry. Light body... Very refreshing and drinkable - would be nice on a hot summers day...

Overall - An excellent wheat beer... As good as any Belgian i've had..

A Scottish Wheat Beer, whatever next?

This is a bottle conditioned beer, so I decided to pour it into two glasses. The plan being to see half the beer without sediment and the other with. I have two thistle shaped Gordon glasses and as this is a Scottish beer, choose those to use.

What I got was two completely different looking beers from the one bottle, both had wonderfully full white heads which hung around for a good while. The second glass was obviously very cloudy because of the sediment. The first glass having a golden clear hue to it, no mistiness or cloudiness to be seen.

The aroma was more pronounced in the second glass, the wheat clearly wiff-able compared to the aroma from the first pour. Spicey and citrus flavours abound in the nose too. Yeast aromas were also present in both glasses.

This was like reviewing two beers at the same time and was getting to be really fun, the cloudy half was more tastey but not so good on the eyes, and my taste buds are connected to my eyes some how. Everything a good Witbier should be, tart, refreshing and interesting. According to the label, coriander and oranges are used in the brewing process, which will account for the flavours and aromas I found.

I have had many Witbiers when visiting Belgium and have already reviewed a few on this site. This was as good as any I've had on my travels. My mother always has whatever Witbier is on tap when she is in Belgium and I would have no hesitation in giving one of these to her and knowing she would enjoy it and never guess it came fron Scotland not Belgium.

Appearance: light brownish/gold, hazy, poor head formation and not much retention of that which does form, a bit too brown for a wit

Aroma: sourdough bread, coriander and orange peel, honey, English hops, a bit lemony around the edges

Flavor: nice mellow malt flavor balanced with a smooth wheatiness, hint of bubble gum, coriander, yeast, finishes dry with a slightly tangy aftertaste of grain and spice

Mouthfeel: light body, plentiful but fine carbonation, refreshing and crisp

Overall Impression: Nice clean wheat beer, but lacking the esters and phenolics of a "traditional" wit or wheat beer. It is described as "a semi-cloudy Belgian style beer." That is pretty accurate, I guess, because it doesn't really fit in the Wit category or American Wheat beer category (which it is more akin to).