This is a beer I've been meaning to review for quite a long time now, especially with the brewery (Farmery Estate Brewery) being the local brewery for me in Western Manitoba. Farmery's Great White North Belgian-style Wheat Ale won Silver at 2019 for Belgian-style Witbier, which is quite the accomplishment as the gold medal was won by Unibroue for Blanche de Chambly, which is regarded as the very first commercial Belgian Witbier in North America, also one of the very beers that got me into craft beer way back when.As I took the photo and started to write this review, a tornado watch was issued for my area, it was 13 years this week when I saw a pretty bad tornado that hit my family's farm, which you can watch on YouTube.
From the website: Part of our Great White North series that celebrates the tourist attractions of Manitoba and Canada, this beer features the Beluga whale. Brewed with our farm-grown barley and hops, as well as locally-sourced wheat and oats, and infused with fresh oranges and coriander for a fruity and spicy finish. 5.0% ABV
Appearance: Pours a mildly cloudy with a bright straw/orange body to it. The body has a light to mild amount of carbonation, while the head is completely faint the entire time, aside from a thin layer of bubbles near the glass.
Aroma: Notes of malt giving it a sweet graininess to it, there's a definite note of oats in there to give it a bit of cereal aroma to it. The wheat is fairly light in this beer but has a hint of breadiness to it. The coriander is quite present in this beer as you get that peppery spice to it each time I smell this beer. Lots of orange in there, which many people like but I feel like is unneeded for the most part.
Taste: The predominant flavour of this beer is the malt for sure, it's a sweet, toasted malt that I can't really describe but it's the malt profile that I got in their Great White North Light Lager as well as their Pink Lemonale, it's a bit aggressive for this beer. The wheat pops up more this time around but I wish they used more, I loooove wheat.. oh and oats, the oats are there to give it a bit of a breakfast cereal vibe to it. Lots of orange in every sip as well as coriander, I'm enjoying the spice from the coriander.. I guess it's what I associate with summer patio weather as I've sampled many, many witbiers on patios over the summers of my past. The hops are light and a bit floral/grassy, doesn't overpower in any way.
Overall Thoughts: Too much orange for me but I find a lot of witbier drinkers love a very orange-forward Belgian-style witbier to the point that they will add wedges of orange to the beer. It's a decent witbier but I would like to see more of the wheat pop out in this beer as the malt barley they use can be quite aggressive for some of their beers. I still owe the guys over at Farmery a visit, they've been open a few years already, located only an hour from me but I'm just never in their area.. so hopefully one of these days once things open! PS - Not a beer but I recommend checking out their BBQ seasonings, I regularly use their Memphis seasoning on homemade fries, gives it a real nice kick!
https://www.farmery.ca/beer/great-white-north-belgian-wheat-ale/
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