Mort Subite Blanche

Brewed by Mort Subite (Alken-Maes / Scottish & Newcastle)
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Kobbegem, Belgium

Draught at La Mort Subite Cafe, Brussels. Cloudy Wit beer - absolutely delicious! Perfectly balanced, refreshing lemony/chalky flavour, with an unusual but highly satisfying soured finish. Exceptionally good.

Witte lambic holds the middle between a Belgian witbeer and a lambic, being a wheatbeer... It exists on draught only.Colour: pale-aleish. Thick white head. Nose of nutmeg, wheat, coriandre and some citrus. Taste is coriander, wheat, lactic acid and a lemony, perfumed flavour. Aftertaste is more lemonrind and coriander, the mouthfeel being prickly but not fizzy.

Draught. Cloudy yellow with off-white head. Lemon aroma with pear drops. Light body with medium carbonation. Lemon dominates the flavour but with some reasonable bitterness and hints of pear drops, banana and yoghurt. Nice, balanced, unusual, refreshing beer that goes down easily.

On tap downtown Brussels. Pours a cloudy yellow/golden with a soft white head. Aroma is floral and fruity, kinda perfume aromatic, pineapple, wheat, and some brett character. Very estery taste, with a light wheat start and mild sweetness. Finish displays a touch of tartness but no real sourness, just dry and fruity.

Draught from Brasserie a la Mort Subite, Brussels. Hazy wheat in colour with small white head. Fresh and fruity aroma that came in two stages: with head - cherry blossoms; dead head - cherry Jello! Taste evolved much the same way - a floral start rolled into raspberry lemonade with a tart punch to finish. What a wonderous, weird beer. I love it. High marks for the interesting complexity of an otherwise average beer.

Apple and slightly rusty-sweet tasting. Heavy on the palate. Not unenjoyable, but a pint of this will possibly kill your evening. Good thing I didn’t have that much.

Tap at Mort Subite cafe. A subtle aroma - yeast and citrus. Light yellow and cloudy. Smooth sweet flavor with lemon/lime - tastes like a witbier. Very nice and lighter after drinking heavier lambics.

Keg. The colour is apricot-pale orange and cloudy. The minimal foam is white and built of relatively large bubbles.

The smell resembles of sparkling lemonade: Sweet with a clear flavour of citrus fruits and peach.

The carbonation is potent with rather big bubbles. Quite fit for the style, I think.

The first taste that meets the drinker is a rather bitter aroma of marzipan and apricot brandy. Then, a complex taste of sweet almonds, dry cherries, peaches, bitter orange and some yeast emerges. The bitterness is very subtle, but it is present somewhere in there. The aftertaste is slowly decreasing, leaving a fine flavour of apricot.

According to the staff at Akkurat (the fine beer bar in Stockholm, Sweden), this beer is strictly speaking only sold at a Belgian café, but a special arrangement made this exclusive guest appearance in Sweden possible. They also explained this beer as “like Hoegaarden White, but based on a Lambic instead of Witbier. The result was quite different but very attractive.