I don’t know what a quince is. I don’t believe I’ve ever had one, leastaways knowingly. These fruit, belonging to the same family as apples and pears, are not usually available where I live, to know knowledge, and so I’ve never had the pleasure (or displeasure, as the case may be) of tasting one. A mystery of a fruit, in my mind, and so its character I cannot guage.
As much as never having tried a quince before may seem odd to some, everybody has not tried at least one thing in their lives. For some, many things. Skydiving. Scuba Diving. Cliff Diving. All sorts of falling off things. I’ve never done those before either. In terms of food, this lack of knowing what a thing tastes like is far more common than that. Have nay of your tried duck tongue? I have. It’s better barbecued than pickled.
In the beer world, the statement of “never tried it yet” when confronting new beer is pretty common. Brand new beers are being crafted every damn year, some with the wildest of ingredients. In certain cases, then breweries decide to collaborate on a product, they can get reeally weird. In all of my tasting experience, collab-projects always resulted in beers with the most out-there ingredients and techniques. Some times the result is something great. Other times, it is overwrought and smells of sphincter.
This has to do more with restraint, mind you, than anything else. It is entirely possible that, with the right proportions, any spice or fruit could make a normal beer spectacular. Hell, my favourite brewery Innis and Gunn does that constantly, even when they don’t collaborate with others, so the blame can be distributed. So adding the likes of, say, quince to a beer can be done right, assuming that the brewer(s) aren’t having an off day. Or an overenthusiastic day.
That is the subject of today’s review: a collaborative beer between Beau’s and Tagwerk, a witbeir they crafted together with some quince in it. This is an example of blindly charging into a new thing, because I have no fucking clue what quince is like, nor waht a quince witbeir is like. The whole thing could be a fascinating new experience for me. Or it’ll make me ill.
Beau’s & Tagwerk Witbeir with Quince
Appearance
This tall bottle has Tagwerk’s logo predominantly on the front. I bet it’s so that Beau’s can shirk responsibility for if this beer is utter trash. That or their highlighting their partner graciously, so they can accept accolades for a fine brew. Either way, Beau’s logo only appears on the bottle-cap.
The beer itself is surprisingly normal. The colour is a rich amber-orange, filled with sediment and cloudy with flavour. The head towers with heavy carbonation and thick bubbles. The beer looks like a rich, stonking creature that is pretty exciting. Certainly I am excited to taste it, as tentative as I may be plunging on into the unknown.
Taste
The mystery deepens when I give this thing a good sniff. The beer gives off a nose that is…well…terrible. It isn’t a good smelling brew. There is some fruit there, along with citrus and a bit of sea-air. But the main thing I get is armpit stank, and far more piercing than the dull jockstrap stench of an IPA. It doesn’t build my anticipation.
However, I am pleased to say that this beer reminds me of good cheese. Sure, the stench might knock you unconscious and rob you of your shoes. Or, the taste could contradict the smell, and it could delicious. This is one of those cases, a veritable 1608 (a very tasty and catastrophically smelly cheese) of beer. The entry is sweet and citrusy, akin to a sour beer almost. The quince, I guess, is that sourness, and indeed its unique quincey flavour permeates the ale.
The finish is, thankfully, typical of a witbeir. The wheat malt and coriander addition leaves the finish a nice floral, banana mixture. It is marginally more bitter than some wheat beers, but it serves to balance the ale in this case. Overall, it is a tasty creation, if a bit smelly. Though I don’t know if the quince is really for me.
Mouthfeel
This beer has a good texture to it as well. It is smooth on the palate, creamy and full of pinprick carbonation. It ends off crisply too, avoiding the nasty cloy that some richer beers tend to have. It is nice, certainly well-constructed, and goes down easily. The texture ain’t bad.
Verdict
This beer is, indeed, well crafted. And it doesn’t go overboard with flavours and textures. The end result is a well-balanced and well-crafted creation, and yes, I now know what quince tastes like. I don’t know, though, if I “like” it.
The flavour is nice, but very acidic. The nose can be overwhelming at times as well, given that you have to stick your face in the glass to take a sip, and get a nose-full of armpit and…quince. I’d call it an acquired taste, to be sure, but not unpleasant.
Take that whichever way you want.
Ingredients
- Barley and Wheat Malt
- Hops
- Top Yeast
- Coriander
- Hibiscus
- Quince
- Water
Quaff Thine Bev'ridge 