Beer – #745 – Bach Brewing – Witsunday Blonde IPA
I like the beers from Bach Brewing, and I’ve had this, the Witsunday Blonde IPA, in the fridge for a day too long. So tonight it is then. An IPA with a Belgian twist, two for the price of one perhaps. Get in!
A cloudy fusion of wheat and pilsner malts
Beer that is 5.6% ABV, and around 168 calories a serve, in a bottle that is 500ml, and 2.2 standard drink units of.
For Bach Brewing Ltd this is brewed at Steam Brewing Company this one is in the Style that is Witbier and that happened in Auckland, New Zealand
Witsunday is a thirst quenching hopped-up Witbier.
The Wit but not a Sunday,
A cloudy fusion of wheat and Pilsner malts, citrus hop aroma, and esters of Belgian yeast, with a hint of lemon grass.
Pouring a slightly cloudy yellow with tropical aromas of melon, banana and dried hay. The palate is full and creamy with a great soft hop aroma care of the US and NZ hops.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
It’s a more hoppy aroma that I thought I was going to get a zing of grassy hop . Then there was a pale straw yellow pour with a lovely head that is nice and fluffy and not overly full or excited. I used a glass expecting a bigger head. Of course, being as how I’m so expert at the beer pouring.
Love that from in the glass, its a subtle grassy hop.
And the taste is really something special and enjoyable, different and yet familiar, very comforting and did I mention tasty.
Hard to describe exactly this beer though, because in some instances it’s a bit like a pale ale perhaps, slightly and lightly hoppy, and then there is this lovely soft middle that cushions all that edgy bitter taste into a nice neat package of a profile. So at the beginning and end you get the benefits of a bite of hop and a bit of tick of a finish, and in the middle it’s a really nice mouthfeel of beer.
So I’m conflicted about what this is as a beer, is it IPA, Pale ale or a Pilsner because it could easily be one of the last two and not the first. The Belgium thing just adds a nice middle softness into the mix, but it would be easy to confuse and confound someone with this .
It is one of those beers where you end up drinking it at a fair clip, frown and wonder where it all went.
Not that that is a bad thing, it is occasionally nice to have a beer that is like that, because I’ve been enjoying every quick sip and gulp.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. Personally this is a bit of a cracker of a good beer, I like that level of bitterness and hoppy aroma, I like the soft middle and that nice finish that is obvious but not intrusive of offensive, but I’d have no idea what the style was in a blind test. I’d end up at Pale Ale but with a frown and quizzical look about it being a Pilsner.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? At the Liquorland, Forrest Hill, but they they are everywhere
- Am I enjoying it? It is really nice, mad not to enjoy it.
- Would I have another? I would, and probably will.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? This is the hard part, because I think this is a beer without a strong character of one beer or other and then ends up divided in itself. I would share one with a friend because it’d be interesting if they thought it was IPA, or Pale Ale, or even Pilsner. I can’t wait to have another.
Music for this : ” Courtney Barnet ” with the album ” Sometimes I sit and think, Sometimes I just sit ” on the Spotify
Courtney Melba Barnett is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Melbourne
Witbier
Witbier, also known as Belgian White, is a style of Belgian-style wheat beers that are generally pale and opaque with a crisp wheat character and citric refreshment of orange peel and coriander. Ingredients sometimes include oats for smoothness, and other spices such as grains of paradise. Serve with light cheeses or mussels
Wheat Ale
Golden to light amber in color, the body is light to medium. The wheat lends a crispness to the brew, often with some acidity. Some hop flavour maybe be present, but bitterness is low. Not as estery as German or Belgian-style wheats.
