Leireken Amber (Buckwheat Blond Ale)

Brewed by Brouwerij Strubbe
Style: Specialty Grain
Ichtegem, Belgium

750 ml bottle. Hazy orange body with a huge, foamy white head. Aroma is rather powerful. Sweet fruity grapefruit and yeast, with some kind of acidity cellar notes. Flavor is mild, sweet, fruity and dominated by an acidulous aftertaste. Reminds me I bit of some kind of Saison , definitively not an Amber. Not great, but very refreshing and interesting taste.

Shared with Naven which, from what I read, comes courtesy of Jimbowood.. the master of disaster from the south. Anyway, not much to report here. Had the mouthfeel of club soda and slightly hinted at witbier qualities. Not bad, not great.

Bottle courtesy of Jimbowood. Big beautiful bottle, corked and caged. Cork came shooting off, and the beer poured with a massive head. Aroma is light belgian yeasts and some fruity lemon flavors. Palate is super fizzy with carbonation. Way way way too carbonated. Flavor is reminiscent of a nice hefeweizen. Would be a good beer if their wasn’t so much carbonation.

Whitened lemon. Large and rocky stark-white foam deposits abundant lace with each sip. Yeasty, phenolic, sherbety aromas are dotted with floral hops, stewed apples, unripe banana, and fermenting wheat. Vivacious carbonation delicately washes over the tongue with a feathery softness. Nutty straw links up with starchy and spicy buckwheat which are accentuated by snappy peppery phenols. Tangy wheat and stewed apples impart a quenching acidity while a honeydew melon slickness beautifully harmonizes with the floral softness. Finishes gritty with pears and perfectly ripe bananas, but equally lush with a foundation of pistachio-tinged yeast, peaches, and wheat-derived starches. Toasted buckwheat reemerges with each belch and lends a sulfuric edge. Very polished and well-attenuated. This juggles lots of refinement and complexity in a refreshingly light body. Fun stuff.

This clear gold brew makes a fine, long lasting head that throws off a big caramel aroma. The flavor is malty and spicy and finishes with a touch of dryness. Not a characteristic Witbier, but I couldn’t pick out a buckwheat aspect from this either.

This was a surprise of a beer. Cloudy yellow with a big head. The aroma is a beautiful bubblegum and esters aroma. The flavor is nice, but the buckwheat doesn’t have the firm flavor of a normal with wheat. A nice spiciness from the yeast. I didn’t really guess this was a witbier though. Creamy body. I really dug this beer.

C&C 750 from MJRBC. Hazy yellow gold with a huge, yellow tinged head. Yeasty wheat nose, lemon, dough and a faint spiciness. Starts out very carbonated, but settles down a bit as it warms. Light, lively mouthfeel. A sodalike spritz is noticed in the throat after each sip. Banana and lemon lead the way from the first, a bit of dough and clove follows. Light lemony wheat finish, and the clove eclipses the dough completely. One of the best I got from the club this year, thoroughly enjoyable. Well done!

NorCal tasting Jan 07 - aroma was light on the bubblegum and cloves, with a bit of doughy character and dried fruits. Appearance was light yellow in color, cloudy with a nice head and good retention. Mouthfeel was lively and spritzy. Flavors were bannana, slightly orangy...sweet and fruity would be the best way to describe it I guess. A nice beer for sure. Another good beer from these guys.