Hoegaarden Grand Cru
Brouwerij van Hoegaarden

 

Copenhagen 22/12 2018. 33 cl bottle from Den Gamle Købmand, Kbh K. Pale yellow label with a golden band and drawing of castle.

Pours hazy, amber with medium-sized, bubbly white head. settles as thin, patchy layer of foam.

Aroma is delicately balanced by a sugary sweetness and a tart fruitiness. White sugar, vanilla, citrus and unripe berries.

Light carbonation. Quite thin, watery, lightly tingling texture.

Flavor is medium sweet followed by and balanced by a a medium strong, sourish, bitterness. Lingers shortly.

For a beer with an ABV of 8,5 ridiculously fresh and easy to drink. Quite weird as the high ABV seems to be the only reason for calling this beer a Grand Cru.

This was purchased at Chas Cole Cellarbrations in Geelong in July 2025 and drunk a week or so later.

L: The beer is murky, dirty apricot-orange, with a smattering of off-white head and no carbonation. Let's be honest, this is not an attractive beer...

S: The nose is candied lemon, cloves and maybe a touch of coriander. It has the classic (generic?) Belgian aroma, and just from smelling the beer, you can get a clear idea of what this beer will taste like.

T: As foretold. It's got candied lemon peel, cloves, coriander and a peppery, spicy Belgian phenolic note. Bitterness is high, perhaps helped by the spiciness of the taste profile, and the finish is dry and abrupt. There's a warmth in the throat and stomach by the halfway point, and the barely disguised alcohol is making itself known. While it's not a beer for the uninitiated, it's really quite delicious.

M: Carbonation is quite low, but there's a significant carbonic kick on the swallow. The body of the beer is quite thick and lives up to what the visuals indicated.

O: So it looks ordinary, smells generic Belgian, but tastes delicious. It's a contradiction in a glass, but one I'm happy to continue to unravel!

Cheers!
#732

Colour dark gold, perhaps even a little orange with a slight cloudiness. White foam, tall and generally quite persistent, fine to medium grain. Leaves quite a few decorations on the glass.
Aroma is sweet and malty with lots of overripe banana, cloves and coriander.
The taste: sweet, banana with clove and coriander with country accents trying to creep in.
The alcohol is well hidden, the saturation is medium.
25.09.2017

Looks a burnt orange, multi finger head. Smells of fruits citrus peels. Taste is some orange, some bitterness, malty and wheaty with a pleasant tang. Finishes easy and crisp leaving some citrus bite. Good stuff this.

 

 

Clear golden caramel appearance with very little carbonation due to age (40 years since bottling). Caramel, malt, tea notes. Very little oxidation for its age. Old but held up well.

 

Poured in a tulip glass. 8.5% ABV. Hazy blonde with a fne 2 finger white head. Light carbonation. This is obviously a well made beer.

Smell, some biscuitty sweetness bit of green banana and some spice. Bit of koriander I guess, as Hoegaarden likes to work with orange peel and koriander. Yes label confirms.

Bitter taste, but not too dry, obviously has some sugar added. BIt disappointing. Bitter aftertaste. Not what I would call a Grand Cru.

Mouth feel is good. But somehow too bitter and to sweet. And too much alcohol for this kind of pale ale. Prefer a Duvel anytime every day. This one is a good beer, but not for me.

Flavour, aroma, head and easy to drink. Tropical fruits like banana. Would dink again.