Beer – #143 – Renaissance – Enlightenment – White As Wheat IPA

Renaissance – Enlightenment – White As Wheat IPA. A most unlikely beer Brewed by Renaissance Brewing In the style of a Wheat Ale in Blenheim, New Zealand.

Renaissance - Enlightenment - Wheat as

Unfiltered beers are prized by artisan brewer worldwide who relish a pint that’s cloudy and hazy with nothing striped away. We do too, so at Renaissance, our White IPA is packed with unmalted wheat and doses on NZ grown American hops. Aromas of dried tangerine and fresh citrus. A luscious body with a lingering evergreen finish. Think of it as a beer made, and served the way way nature intended, “cloudy as.”

500ml 74% ABV (2.8 Standard drink units), of which I’m expecting something nice.

Cloudy, golden yellow, fruity citrus not to astringent. All of that.

It’s cloudy, smells musty, seems to pour flat, and I got nothing by way of head. It’s also darker brown than I’d expected.

It tastes ok though :-), syrupy, malty sweet, and just a touch of alcohol on the back. It’s not half bad. There is however a bunch of grassy notes in this too. Bit of a melange of things. And that’s not half good.

A confusing set to deliver, not as quiet and settled as a traditional wheat beer, and not an IPA either. Soft of a half/half and in doing so not quite making a whole one.

So, the pdubyah-o-meter says 5. and that’s just because I want to enjoy this more. As a beer for the evening this has left me a bit empty and I might struggle to finish it, but I will, and mumble under my breath about each moutfull. It might be that I just don’t get the Wheat/IPA thing, but there is possibly a good reason that this isn’t a thing. Perhaps I should have thought it through some more.

Not for the faint of heart, and this might just ring your bell, but this is not for me