Barons Brewing Company Barons Lemon Myrtle Witbier

Just had my first and last bottle.

Far too much lemon for me.

Wow was the first word that entered my mouth aftering trying this lastest offering from Barons Brewing Company and even as I write this up from my notes towards the end of my second Lemon Myrtle I still am amazed at the balanced zesty flavours in Lemon Myrtle Witbier.

First up I need to warn the purists that this isn't a 100 percent true to style Witbier, but think of it as an Australian adaption of the Belgian original.

Lemon Myrtle pours a pale yellow colour and has a slight cloudiness to it, but only a very little and it looks as though it may have been filtered. A thin lacing (head) present right to the end of the glass and it was carbonated reasonably softly.

The aroma is strong, grassy and reminds me of lemon sherbet lollies I used to eat as a kid. That said you can detect the wheat and yeast too which balance it out and remind you it is a beer and not a soft-drink.

The lemon is very pronounced when you first taste it and is balanced out in the aftertaste with the wheat and yeast flavours coming through. The bitterness is quite low overall due to the reasonbly low usage of hops.

For me the flavour is very unique and a great way to showcase the Australian native herbs and spices we have here and I can see it is as a great session beer as the weather continues to warm up. A true Belgian yeast was used according to their website, but I could detect some slight Lager flavours, so perhaps it was a mixed yeast strain?

Like Radler this will be favoured by the female beer drinkers I feel and those that enjoy Witbiers. If you are not a zesty, or fruity beer drinker you may not enjoy this one as much as I did. For the white wine drinkers amongst us, I think you'll enjoy this one too as it has very fruity (yet slightly dry) characteristics you might associate with some of your favourite whites.

PS - Keep an eye out for the label and make sure you run your fingers over it. Its textured and feels quite different to your usual paper labels.