Rodenbach Brewery

It was getting dark as our coach pulled in through the narrow gate of the Rodenbach Brewery. Our party of 15 had been on a whistle-stop tour of West Flanders and now, after an excellent meal at the Eetcafe Rodenbach in the centre of Roeselare, we had made the short coach journey across town to the world famous Rodenbach Brewery.

From a personal perspective, this was one brewery I had desired to visit for many years; having seen photos and read descriptions of the place in books by the legendary Beer Hunter, Michael Jackson and beer writer Roger Protz. What really inspired me were the photos, taken in the brewery, of row after row of massive oak vats, all containing beer which was quietly maturing away.

I probably wasn’t quite so keen on Rodenabch after I tasted their beer for the first time, during the early 90’s, but back then my taste buds weren’t as mature as they are today. Also, sour beers were a completely alien concept, as far as I was concerned sour meant “off”. Little did I know!

Rodenbach is probably the most famous of the Flemish Red-Brown Beers, which are a blend of young acidified, mature acidified and oak-matured beer. This long maturation in oak casks lowers the pH of the beer and gives it a longer shelf-life. The sour beer imparts a complex and agreeably refreshing flavour, thus imparting this blended beer with a distinctive edge, and making it the perfect aperitif.

Old advertisements

It is worth mentioning briefly, that hops are used quite sparingly in the production of these types of beer, and Rodenbach is no exception. Bitterness does not sit well with sourness, so hops are primarily used for their preservative properties, rather than for any flavour they might add to the finished beer.

The normal Rodenbach is a blend of 75% young beer and 25% aged beer. Another beer, called Rodenbach Grand Cru, is a blend of 34% young beer and 66% old beer. Not surprisingly Grand Cru has a much more pronounced sourness, and is much sought after by beer connoisseurs.  In addition, they have a Foederbier, which is a 2 year old beer drawn   straight from the maturation cask, or "foeder". It is only available in a few select outlets.

After we had disembarked from the coach, we were met by Brewmaster Rudi Ghequire in the brewery yard, and before going inside we were given a short introduction to the brewery and its history. Rodenbach can trace its history back to 1821, when the four Rodenbach brothers (Pedro, Alexander, Ferdinand and Constantijn), who were originally from western Germany, invested in a small brewery in Roeselare. The brothers formed a partnership to run the brewery, which lasted for fifteen years, until Pedro Rodenbach and his wife Regina bought out the other three partners.

In 1864 their son Edward took over the brewery and business prospered considerably under his stewardship. Edward's son, Eugène, took over in 1878, having first travelled to England where he learned how to mature and ripen beer in wooden vessels, and how to then blend old and young beers to make a drink which appealed to the public. The skills he acquired in regard to the maturation of beer in large oak casks, or “foeders” (maturation casks), were instrumental in producing the beer that Rodenbach became famous for; and the company owes Eugène Rodenbach an enormous debt of gratitude for the unique quality and character of its beers today.

Foeders - full of maturing beer

Some brewery historians have speculated that Eugene may have learned these skills at the Greene King Brewery, in Bury St Edmunds, where a blended beer called Strong Suffolk Ale is still produced. Strong Suffolk Ale is a blend of two beers, BPA - Best Pale Ale and Old 5X. BPA comes in at 5%, but Old 5X registers 12%. Old 5X is matured at Greene King, in three huge wooden vats for a minimum of two years.

A few years ago, at the Great British Beer Festival, Greene King made a few casks of Old 5X available for people to try. It was well worth queuing for half an hour to enjoy a sample of this historic beer (third of a pint only). Its slight sour background, contrasted with the rich malty sugars still present in the beer, and the whole thing reminded me very much of a glass of fine Oloroso Sherry.

The vats at Bury St Edmunds are not dissimilar to those at Rodenbach, which is probably what prompted speculation about a link between the two breweries; but after consulting the brewery archives at Rodenbach, Roger Protz found no trace of such a connection. Instead, he proposed the brewery of John Barras, in the north east of England, as a more likely contender for Eugene’s apprenticeship.

The new brewhouse

Eugene produced no male offspring, so a public limited company was created, with most of the shares remaining in the hands of descendants of the Rodenbachs. This arrangement lasted until 1998 when the current generation, having lost interest in running the brewery, sold it to the family-owned Palm Brewery.

One of the first things Palm did when they took over was to upgrade the brewing equipment so they could increase capacity, quality, and efficiency. The old 19th Century plant was on its last legs, due to a combination of inertia and lack of investment, so in 2002 a shiny and new brew house was opened to replace the old. We didn’t go inside, but could clearly see the glistening stainless steel, state of the art brewing vessels through the modernistic glass fronted building

Historic malt kiln

How it works

Towering over the brewery is the impressive and quite dramatic-looking malting kiln. Up until fairly recent times, Rodenbach malted their own grain, but today, the brewery has far outpaced its ability to malt its own grain efficiently and has it custom malted by a large Belgian malt house. We were allowed inside the kiln, which has now been converted into a museum piece for the brewery.

Impressive though the malt kiln was, the real highlight of the whole brewery tour/experience was the world-renowned cask halls with their 294 oak vats or “foeders”, some of which are 150 years old. They are recognised as part of the industrial heritage of Flanders, and are protected as such. The halls are interlinked, and we walked through several, pausing to admire these massive structures which towered over our heads.

Another row of foeders

Part way through our journey through these halls, Rudi turned off and led us into the company cooperage. Here there were wooden staves and boards in various degrees of conditioning being turned into lids or staves. Rodenbach employ two coopers, who carefully select the oak for the foeders so they can control this vital part of the maturation and hence flavouring processes of their beer. The coopers also check each foeder on a regular basis, to make sure here are no leaks, or other damage present.

Finally we arrived at Rodenbach’s event and hospitality centre which is situated at the end of one of the cellars. Here we were given a glass of either standard Rodenbach, or Grand Cru. I opted for the former, and very nice it was too, with just that subtle edge of sourness providing a refreshing edge to the fullness of the dark red beer. I probably could have tried the Grand Cru as well, but it had been a long day and the hour was getting late. Despite his infectious enthusiasm for Rodenbach’s beers, our host undoubtedly wanted to get home to his family, and we had still to complete our journey to Bruges; where we were to spend the night. Under the circumstances that cool, thirst-quenching glass of Rodenbach sufficed and I drank up more than satisfied after an amazing, and long sought after brewery visit.

Rudi - pouring the beers

I am certain that none of the 15 of us, present on that tour, could have failed to be impressed by the care, tradition and heritage of what we experienced at Rodenbach. The visit will certainly live on in my mind as one of the best and most fascinating brewery tours I have been privileged to have been party to.

Some Local Flavour & Character

Although this short post is aimed primarily at a local audience, I have included it as something of a break from all the stuff about Belgium which I have been posting recently. (There’s more to come!).

Yesterday saw one of my favourite local breweries featured on a programme called "Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip". Not being much of tele addict these days, this series had completely passed me by, but basically it features Sir Terry Wogan and London cabbie Mason McQueen "on a food trip around the UK, seeking out weird and wonderful regional British cuisine and discovering how our tastes have changed over the years."

Yesterday’s programme saw the unlikely duo visiting Royal Tunbridge Wells, where they breakfasted at Sankey’s Champagne & Seafood Bar, down on the Pantiles, before moving on to visit local celebrity chef, Rosemary Schrager, at her cookery school in the town. They then ride out in Mason's cab,  to the historic Penshurst Place; described as one of the finest examples of a fortified manor house in the country.

Bob and his team with Sir Terry Wogan & Mason McQueen

The final part of the half hour episode, sees radio presenter and cabbie visiting Larkins Brewery, deep in the Kent countryside on the edge of the village of Chiddingstone. Proprietor, and head brewer, Bob Dockerty takes them on a trip to see the hops he grows, before returning to the brewery to sample the beer. They then join Bob, his nephew Harry (who is learning the trade), office manager Guy Beckett, plus one of the brewery workers, for lunch of shepherd’s pie – washed down of course with several pints of Larkins full-bodied and well-hopped beer.

As you can imagine, the series is all very light-hearted, and only skims the surface of the places visited. For me, it has a very personal interest, because for many years I was CAMRA Brewery Liaison Officer for Larkins, and I know Bob, his staff and the brewery very well. I am also an enormous fan of Larkins beer; especially the 4.4% Best Bitter, and the wonderful 5.2% Porter. The latter is only available during the winter months, but it is always a beer to look forward to.

I have posted a link to the episode on BBCiPlayer, but as the programme will only be available to  view for the next 28 days, enjoy it whilst you can.

A Flemish Hop-Grower

Almost ready for harvest

 Not only is it an over-worked cliché, it’s also one I don’t normally care to use – think sales conferences, self-improvement seminars, or anything of a similar ilk that originates from across the pond (another awful cliché), but on this occasion it’s more than a little appropriate.

If you haven’t already guessed the phrase I’m referring to is, “Walking the Talk,”, and on the first day of the recent EBB post-conference excursion, my fellow beer writers and I were fortunate to meet someone who is doing just that! Joris Cambie is a farmer and now also a brewer, who represents several generations of hop growers. He cultivates around 10 hectares of hops on his farm, which is situated a short distance from the town of Poperinge in West Flanders.

Poperinge is the centre of hop cultivation in Belgium, but the hops grown in the surrounding fields are all that remain of a once much more extensive industry; one which met its nemesis during the conflict of 1914-18, which saw this pleasant, but unremarkable corner of Belgium, turned into the killing fields of Europe as its royal houses sacrificed the flower of a generation in a bid to sort out their petty differences and vain ambitions.

Cascade Hops

Ghastly though the Great War was, it wasn’t wholly responsible for the loss of this once important agricultural activity; as Joris explained to our group as we sat listening in his hop shed-cum-brewery. The real reason for the decline of hop-growing in this part of Belgium is that the soil is so good that farmers can grow virtually anything. Contrast this to Germany’s famous Hallertau region; the largest continuous hop-planting area in the world. Here, according to Joris, the soils are poor and sandy, and hops are one of the few plants which will grow here.

I don’t know how true this is, but it seems plausible, but I do know that Joris grows a mix of aroma and high alpha hops, which include the English varieties Goldings, WGV, Pilgrim, Challenger and the American variety Cascade. At the time of our visit, the hops were nearly ready for harvest, and it was good to walk right up to the edge of a hop-garden planted with Cascades, and see the tall bines laden with their abundant green cones; all just ripe for picking.

Somewhat surprisingly Joris' hop farm is a member of English Hops; the largest hop growers co-operative in the UK. Joris claims he gets a better and more stable price by selling his hops through this organisation, which are based just down the road from me, in Paddock Wood, Kent. All hops grown on the farm are 100% organic, and Joris explained to us all the extra work which this entails.

You would have thought that growing hops was a demanding enough business on its own, but Joris thought it would be good to utilise some of the farm’s hops in the brewing of beer. To him, this seemed a natural progression, but the local bureaucrats had other ideas. Joris was told that brewing constituted an industrial activity, whilst he was situated in an area reserved for agriculture. Undeterred, Joris continued with his plans and even committed to grow a certain amount of barley, which could also be used in the brewing process.

Fermentation Room

The town-hall bureaucrats had obviously missed the point that within living memory, many farms in this part of Belgium, and also in neighbouring France, had brewed beer; primarily for their workforce, but also on a semi-commercial basis. In the end Joris won the day, and in November 2011 brewing commenced on a fairly small-scale to start with, in a shed on the hop farm that had formerly been used to pick and dry the hops in. Some modifications were necessary to meet food safety regulations for many decades, but De Plukker Bier proved popular with local inhabitants and production slowly increased as the market for the farm’s beers began to expand. Output today is around 650 litres every three weeks, but bottling and labelling continues to be done by hand. All the beers are unfiltered, un-pasteurised and bottle-conditioned.

During the introductory talk, we were given a glass of De Plukker’s most popular beer, the 6.1% ABV, Keikoppenbier. This is a blond, top-fermented ale which uses three varieties of hops (Admiral, Golding and Cascade), to give the beer its distinctive hop aroma and to provide a good balance with the malt base. We then moved back outside for a look at the nearby hop-garden, where Joris continued his talk on the joys, as well as the pitfalls of hop-growing.

De Plukker's Brown Belgian Ale

Back inside the shed, we were treated to one of the brewery’s other beers; namely Rookop, a 6.5% ABV Brown Belgian Ale which until 1963 had been brewed by the St.-Joris Brewery in the village of Reningelst. This beer is brewed with Admiral and Golding hops, and is fruity and sweet with some chocolate notes.

Every year the brewery celebrates the end of the hop harvest by brewing a beer which includes all the hop varieties grown on the farm. In 2014 these were Goldings, Pilgrim, Cascade, Challenger and WGV. The resulting beer is called "All Inclusive IPA”: the “All Inclusive” referring to the fact that all the farm’s hop varieties are used in the beer. Last year’s beer weighed in at 8.0% ABV.

Export boxes?

For me, our visit to Joris’s farm and the De Plukker Brewery was one of the highlights of the trip; even though there were several more superlatives to come that day. I am almost ashamed to admit that despite having been an avid beer drinker for the past forty or so years, a former home-brewer and someone who takes a keen interest in all things brewing, that this was my first ever visit to a hop farm. It’s even more incredible when you consider that I live in Kent; one of the premier hop-growing regions of England!

It was however, well worth the wait!

European Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference 2015 - Brussels. Day Two

The following day’s proceedings kicked off at 10am sharp; although I did notice a substantially reduced number of delegates in attendance for the first presentation, from WordPress.com. WordPress are an important sponsor of the Beer Bloggers’ Conference, and their software is understandably very good. It wouldn’t be powering over 24% of the internet if it wasn’t!

Major Sponsor

However, not long after the presentation started, I realised it was very similar to last year’s talk in Dublin. To be sat there in the hall, half-heartedly listening to something I’d heard before, was rather disappointing, to say the least, especially as I could have been enjoying a wander around Brussels in the late summer sunshine instead!

The next session, entitled Beer Marketing, was definitely the liveliest and controversial one of the whole conference. Jean Hummler, owner of the renowned Moeder Lambic café, made a scathing attack on what he called the “fake brewers”; gypsy or cuckoo brewers to you and I. His point was they were diluting the impact and, by implication, the chances of success for genuine brewery start-ups, and he was quite vociferous about one well-known Danish brewer in particular. It was probably just as well that no drink had been taken at this stage, as who knows what might have ensued. Let’s just leave it by saying the language was rather colourful at times!

The so-called “Walking Lunch” which followed, paired various Belgian Beers with Traditional Belgian Foods. The lunch was hosted by tourist organisation, and major conference sponsor - Visit Flanders, and featured some typical Belgian and Flemish foods paired with Beers produced in the Flanders region. I have to say there were some excellent pairings; my favourite being that of Fish Soup, with the refreshing and slightly tangy Gruut Wit, from the Gentse Gruut Brewery in Ghent,  but the Flemish Meat Stew, matched with Gouden Carolus Cuvée van de Keizer, from Het Anker Brewery, came a close second.

In the Conference Hall

It was back into the lecture theatre after for a presentation of the State of Beer in Europe, presented by Bo Jensen, Executive Member of the European Beer Consumers Union and Simon Spillane, Senior Advisor with the Brewers of Europe. This presentation started off well, with some interesting facts and figures about the importance of the brewing industry to Europe’s economy, but unfortunately got bogged down by a rather turgid discussion about duty rates and scare tactics, adopted by the anti-alcohol lobby in many European countries.

The session on Beer Blogger & Writer Reports, which followed, was one of the best of the conference, with British and Irish writers to the fore. All presentations were restricted to just five minutes a piece, so there was real pressure to pack as much in as possible, whilst at the same time trying to avoid information over-load. Matthew Curtis, whose website is Total Ales, gave an excellent presentation on how to use photos properly on your blog, with tips on what makes a good photo, and how to compose, take and edit photos for maximum impact. Baron Orm and Chris Routledge, explained how they conduct their Baron Rating live beer ratings, on the Ormskirk Baron Blog. They described the software they use to edit the recordings, post review, before the ratings are published on the blog.

So Now You Know!

Special mention should also be made here of Pedro Marques,  who had travelled all the way to the conference from Brazil, and Jeffrey Michael, The Biking Brewer. Pedro gave an interesting over-sight of the brewing scene in his native country.  Whilst Jeffrey, who had cycled half-way across Europe to be at the conference entertained us with his presentation on the joys of biking, combined with stories of the people he met, and the beers he drank along the way.

The final session on Sour Beers, was also one of the most  interesting and enlightening, and I am sure we all learnt a lot about how sour beers are brewed and aged. Presented by Petrus Sour Beers, who also provided some excellent beers for us to taste; the session covered both the science and the magic which goes into the creation of these fascinating and refreshing beers.

Sour Beer Tasting

Last on the agenda was Saturday evening’s dinner, hosted by Pilsner Urquell at the Hotel Marivaux. The Czechs had brought one of their Tankovar cellar tanks, pumped full of un-pasteurised Pilsner Urquell, across from Pilsen for us to enjoy. Needless to say, the beer was excellent. Before the meal commenced, we were entertained with a talk from company Master Brewer Vaclav Berka. We were also each given the opportunity of having a Pilsner Urquell glass mug engraved with our name.

The main course consisted of a mammoth and rather tasty hamburger with chips and salad, and was followed by a very rich and filling dessert called a “Marriage of Three Belgian chocolate Mousses”. I struggled to finish mine, given the size and richness of this dessert, but the night wasn’t over yet, as there was an Optional Pub Crawl departing from the hotel lobby. The crawl was led by Paul Walsh of Belgian Beer & Food Magazine, although several of us decided to do the tour in reverse.

"It's all got to be drunk tonight!"

This meant taking a taxi to La Fleur en Papier Doré; a converted maisonette style house dating from the middle of the 18th century. The pub became famous as the meeting place of the surrealistic scene in Brussels, and included such luminaries as, René Magritte, Marcel Lecomte, and Georges Remi (Hergé) amongst its customers.

Stepping inside, I realised that I had been to the pub before; on the same trip to Brussels which included the visit to Café Delirium. It was a nice traditional Belgian pub, with a nice atmosphere and a good mix of clientele. Our small group of four was soon joined by a couple of other groups, which prompted us to move on and try somewhere else.

Charcuterie Board with Pilsner Urquell

Although two of us had been there already over the course of the weekend, the two girls in our party were keen to try Moeder Lambic, so following a walk back towards the city centre, which took in the Manneken Pis statue, I found myself back, once again at this specialist beer café. This time we sat inside, as there were no empty tables outside. As well as specialising in Lambic and Gueuze beers, Moeder Lambic includes various guests amongst its portfolio. Some of these were from closer to home, with beers from Kernel and Siren on offer.

Belgian Chocolate Mousse

The last port of call was a charming little pub called Toone, tucked away down a narrow alley and just a stone’s throw from the Grande Place. Toone is a unique combination of cafe and marionette theatre, with three distinct rooms and far more seating than you would expect from the outside. Despite its location, it was pleasantly quiet and was a good place to end up in, and to round of what was, I’m sure for all attendees, a very successful European Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference.

European Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference 2015 - Brussels. Day One

I finally arrived back home from this year’s European Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference, in the early hours of Tuesday morning; my journey, on Eurostar, having been delayed by flash-flooding in Northern France, and the inability of National Rail Enquiries to inform the travelling public that Charing Cross station was to be closed for the duration of the Bank Holiday weekend.

 Small matter, and a couple of minor irritations, but with a heavy suitcase, full of lots of lovely beer bottles, I could still have done without them. The conference, along with the excursions which both preceded and superseded it, represented five days of superlatives which, as well as increasing my knowledge of Belgian beer by several orders of magnitude, afforded the opportunity to meet up with fellow beer enthusiasts, drawn from a variety of widely differing backgrounds and different countries. Mix this with an excellent conference venue, right in the heart of the beer-loving, cosmopolitan city of Brussels, some fine food, some equally fine beers and  good company, then what more could a beer lover wish for?

Start of the Journey

So, where to begin? Probably the best way is to give a brief over-view of the conference, which took place in the spacious and well-appointed setting of the Hotel Marivaux, a short distance from the Grand Place in central Brussels.

The event kicked off on Friday at 11.30am with Registration, followed by a Buffet Lunch, of typically Belgian Cuisine, with a variety of different beers and beer styles to accompany the food. Delegates then moved into the upstairs lecture theatre for the Conference Opening, to be addressed by a number of dignities, which included Phillippe Close, Alderman of Tourism for the City of Brussels, and Xavier Vanneste, owner of Halve Maan Brewery and President of the Belgian Family Brewers.

The afternoon was taken up with two quite different sessions covering the History, Present, and Future of Brewing in Belgium and Finding Content Beyond the Beer Review. Here we heard ideas from several successful bloggers and writers about how to develop content and how to engage more with your readership, so that they will want to return to your blog.

Posh Plates - Belga Queen

The afternoon finished with a Press Conference on behalf of the Belgian Family Brewers. The latter are a non-profit association of Belgian breweries which have been brewing beer in the country for at least 50 years without a pause. There are 22 members at present, and together they represent 15% of Belgium’s brewers, and boast a combined total of more than 3,500 years of experience in traditional brewing.

The Belgium Family Brewers were the elite sponsors of the conference, and as well as organising the previous day’s pre-conference excursion, entitled “Innovation Meets Tradition”, they also hosted Friday evening’s rather splendid dinner in the sumptuous surroundings of the Belga Queen. This is one of Brussels’s finest restaurants and, as at lunchtime, there was an impressive selection of Belgian beers to pair with the first-class food was presented to us.

Empty Bottles - from Live Beer Blogging

Prior to the dinner though, and still at the hotel, we had the rather manic Live Beer Blogging Session. This involved 12 different breweries presenting one of their beers to groups of Bloggers sat at 12 separate tables around the room in five-minute segments. The idea was for participants to record their thoughts on the various beers on their blog, or via Twitter.

Old Enamel Signs - Delirium Cafe

As I only had a Tablet and SmartPhone with me, rather than a laptop, there was no way I could do the event live. Instead I hurriedly scribbled down my thoughts and impressions of the breweries and their beers on good old fashioned paper. I thought this event was rather gimmicky, and I am sure that some of the brewers presenting their wares, thought the same way as well; but equally I am certain there were many others present who found it great fun, so who am I to judge?

After dinner the evening rounded off with a party, and yet more beer, at the well-known Delirium Café just off the Grand Place. This was my second time at Delirium, having first visited just over 10 years ago as part of a boozy day out in Brussels with friends. We occupied the upstairs’ room, which was rather hot and sticky, but it was good to mix amongst, and socialise with, fellow Bloggers, writers plus, of course, several of the brewers present at the event.

Final drinks of the evening- Moeder Lambic

 Things got a little hazy after that, but a group of us staggered along to specialist beer café, Moeder Lambic. I remember sitting at a table outside, enjoying a cool beer, and the warmth of the late summer evening. There was much talk of beer, but eventually it was time to find our way back to the hotel and some rather beery slumbers.

To be continued...................................................

Live Blogging from Brussels at the EBBC 2015

This is now my second full day in Brussels, and I'm currently sitting here in one of the conference rooms at the Hotel Marivaux listening to the third presentation at the European Beer Bloggers Conference. The sun is shining outside, which is rather ironic after the deluge we had yesterday, when a large group of us were out, travelling by coach around Brabant and Wallonia, visiting some fascinating breweries and sampling some amazing beers.


It was a rather hectic trip which crammed in four brewery locations and over twenty different beers . Granted, most of these sample were just that; samples, and we also had some interesting and well presented food to accompany the beers. However, the trip lasted over twelve hours, and I think all the attendees were glad of their beds when the coach dropped us off at the hotel at 12.30 am earlier this morning; I know I was!

I'll be writing about this trip and the forthcoming one which takes place after the conference. I'll also be writing about the conference itself. This post has been written on my tablet;  hence its brevity, but since getting back I've added a couple of photos to make it look a bit more interesting. It is also my first attempt at Live Blogging.

A Beer-style Too Far

Bavarian Weißbier

Despite over forty years of beer drinking and beer appreciation, there’s one beer style I have never got to grips with. It’s a popular style, particularly in a number of European countries, but two in particular stand out. Both have reputations for the diversity and number of breweries within their respective borders, and for the sheer volume of beer their inhabitants are reputed to put away.

However the style of beer I am referring to almost died out in both countries, but made an astonishing comeback during the final quarter of the last century. The beer style, of course, is wheat beer, and the countries referred to above are Belgium and Germany. Wheat beer is known in these countries as Witbier or Weiss (Weißbier) Bier, respectively.

First a few definitions and background information:

Wheat beer is beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley; it is usually top-fermented. Two common varieties of wheat beer are Weißbier (German – "white beer") based on the German tradition of mixing at least 50% wheat to barley malt to make a light coloured top-fermenting beer, and Witbier (Dutch – "white beer") based on the Belgian tradition of using flavourings such as coriander and orange peel. Belgian white beers are often made with raw un-malted wheat, as opposed to the malted wheat used in other countries.

Witbier

Hoegaarden

Witbier, white beer, Bière Blanche, or simply Witte is a barley/wheat, top-fermented beer brewed mainly in Belgium and the Netherlands. It gets its name due to suspended yeast and wheat proteins which cause the beer to look hazy, or white, when cold. It is a descendant from those medieval beers which instead of using hops, were flavoured and preserved with a blend of spices and other plants and fruits, such as coriander and bitter oranges, and referred to as "gruit".

The style was famously revived in 1965, by Pierre Celis at the Hoegaarden Brewery in Belgium. Witbiers beers often have a somewhat sour taste due to the presence of lactic acid, and also, the suspended yeast in the beer causes some continuing fermentation in the bottle.

Weizenbier
Weizenbier ("wheat beer"), is a style of beer well known throughout Germany; but in the southern parts of Bavaria, such beers are usually referred to by the term Weißbier (literally "white beer”). In the Bavarian version, a significant proportion of the malted barley is replaced with malted wheat. By law, Weißbiers brewed in Germany must be top-fermented, and specialized strains of yeast are used which produce, as by-products of fermentation, the characteristic banana and clove aroma and flavours which are so typical of these beers.

Another explanation for the term Weißbier is because, at the time of its inception, it was much paler in colour than the typical Munich brown beers. The terms Hefeweizen ("yeast wheat") or Hefeweißbier refer to wheat beer in its traditional, unfiltered form. The term Kristallweizen ("crystal wheat"), or kristall Weiß ("crystal white beer"), refers to a wheat beer that is filtered to remove the yeast from suspension. Additionally, the filtration process removes wheat proteins present in the beer which contribute to its cloudy appearance. Unfiltered versions are much more popular, and the "crystal" versions are decried by beer purists.

Ayinger Weißbier

The Hefeweizen style is particularly noted for its low hop bitterness (about 15 IBUs) and relatively high carbonation; characteristics considered important to balance the beer's relatively malty sweetness. Another characteristic unique to Hefeweizen beer is its phenolic character; which is sometimes described as "clove" and "medicinal" but also smoky. Other more typical but less assertive flavour notes produced by Weißbier yeast include "banana",  "bubble gum", and sometimes "vanilla".

Weißbier is available in a number of other forms including  Dunkelweizen ("dark wheat") and Weizenstarkbier ("strong wheat beer"), commonly referred to as Weizenbock. The dark wheat varieties are made with darker, more highly kilned malts (both wheat and barley). The Weizenbocks typically have a much higher alcohol content than their lighter counterparts.

Berliner Weisse
While the brewers in southern Germany rely on yeast for the flavour and aroma of their wheat beers, brewers in northern Germany use a different technique. Berliner Weisse is fermented with ale yeast and Lactobacillus delbruckii which creates an incredibly sour beer. The bacterium contributes a dominant mouth-puckering sourness. Otherwise this beer is light in character and very effervescent. Some fans of this rare style like to sweeten it with flavoured syrups. Whilst this might make the beer more drinkable it should definitely be tried on its own first.


English Wheat Beers
A few English brewers have turned their hands to knocking out a wheat beer or two. Most noteworthy amongst them is renowned Sussex brewery, Harvey’s of Lewes. Harvey’s have been brewing their Copperwheat every year since 2001.This 4.8% pale beer appears in June as a seasonal beer. Unlike most of its continental counterparts, Copperwheat is filtered; it is also brewed using Harvey’s own yeast strain, but still manages to achieve that distinctive wheat beer taste.

The other best known English wheat beer is Clouded Yellow, from St Austell Brewery in Cornwall, which is available in bottled form only, but there are quite a few other breweries producing the style. All these examples though are very much niche beers and it is doubtful that the style will ever catch on in the way it has in Bavaria and Belgium. 

Glassware
Wheat beers tend to foam a lot, especially if poured quickly. In pubs, if the bottle is handed to the customer for self pouring, it is customary for the glass to be taken to the patron wet or with a bit of water in the bottom to be swirled around to wet the entire glass to keep the beer from foaming excessively.

In Germany a weizen glass is used to serve wheat beer.. The glass is narrow at the bottom and slightly wider at the top; the width both releasing aroma, and providing room for the often thick, fluffy heads produced by the beer.It tends to be taller than a pint glass, and generally holds 500 millilitres with room for the head. In other countries, such as Belgium, the glass may be 250 ml or 330 ml.

Right that’s more than enough technical and background information, but knowing that, in Bavaria in particular, the yeast strains used to ferment the beer are responsible for the clove, banana and bubble gum flavours of Weißbier still does little to endear me to the style. It is not that I don’t like these flavours, per se; it is just that I find them rather off-putting in beer!

Some people might say I don’t know what I’m missing, and maybe they’re right, but unless I have some sort of “Road to Damascus” like conversion, I don’t think I’ll be raising a glass of wheat beer anytime soon.