In the making of beer there are four main ingredients: Water, malt, hops and yeast. In Germany there are even beer purity laws restricting brewers to using these ingredients, and thus all variation in flavour is made by the local water, the different hops used and the different malts used. For the majority of beers the malt consists of malted barley, with darker malts for the darker beers. However, it is not uncommon to use wheat as the malt, and this allows the beer to take on quite a different flavour. Wheat beers are popular in many countries but most notably Mexico, Germany and Belgium.

This week’s beer is a popular wheat beer from Belgium, the Hoegaarden witbier. The Hoegaarden brewery, so named due to its location in the Hoegaarden municipality, specialises in wheat beers and the witbier is their flagship. The village was well known for its wheat beers since the middle ages, but local breweries had all closed down until the Hoegaarden brewery was started. Being Belgian rather than German, Coriander and citrus peel are added into the brew.

The resultant brew is very refreshing, with a zestiness from the citrus and a mild spiciness from the coriander. The use of wheat rather than barley results in an almost meaty feel to the beer, it feels as though it has more substance than your typical lager whilst still retaining that refreshing character. It’s a cloudy white in colour, hence the name witbier. Hoegaarden is available on tap from the various Belgian beer cafes and is also available in four packs from many supermarkets. It also may be worth trying out some of their other, stronger, more flavoursome beers such as the Grand Cru or the Forbidden Fruit, both of which I would highly recommend (In truth I rate these considerably over the witbier).