Zak Avery Homebrew: Hopfen-Weisse

"That one's got my name on it"

Another beer post, another beer I've never tried. In fact, only a few have tried this one! This is Zak's home brewed Hopfen-Weisse, generously given away on a first-come-first-served basis at work. I was really looking forward to this as it's also actually the first proper home brew I've had the pleasure to try. Not to mention I was ambushed on my way home from work and forced (FORCED!) to drink two and a half refreshing pints of EPA at the Oak, paid for by my assailant/friend [delete as appropriate]. Needless to say my thirst for beer needed further quenching by the time I'd walked back to Woodhouse. It's a hard life eh…

A 'puddle of mud', but tasty!

This bad boy poured cloudy as hell with not much head, but with a rather strong immediate aroma, very interesting looking indeed. The smell was quite appetising, nice and citrusy. Bit of lime, grapefruit and a small amount of banana in there. As soon as it hit the tongue I got a really nice soft fruitiness, and lots of it. Initially it was citrus fruits, but towards the end of the glass the banana was really taking over. The mouthfeel was very good indeed, nice thick texture with a lovely soft carbonation, very inoffensive. There was a bit of a spice bite in the swallow, followed immediately by that banana rearing its not at all ugly head up the throat, accompanied by a hint of orange too.




Final thoughts: Deep down I wanted to be controversial and slag it off, but the truth is that this was an extremely pleasurable drinking experience, seconded by my housemates who both had a sip and seemed suitably impressed. This is an all round mellow, easy drinking beer that I would happily pay real life human money for - a couple of people have already expressed similar opinions on Twitter, so it's now up to the man himself whether it will appear on the shelves or not! A nice label (i.e. not people's names scrawled in chalk pen by Ghostie) would see this beer right. There are still many details I don't know about the brew though, the percentage for a start! But judging by its taste and my post-beer clear head I would say it's not overly potent.

Mmm, Orval... why not?

Keep your eyes and ears out for Zak's home brews then, because if this was anything to go by we have some ruddy good beers to look forward to. Nice glass of Orval to end tonight's festivities, what a beauty.