I like to drink things. I especially like drinking things from countries called Belgium, Germany, and the Czech Republic. And In this series which I’ve creatively named Drinking In Europe, I drink something from one of these places or their neighbors and then write about it.
The town of Hoegaarden, Belgium was a hub of citrusy and sunny white beer activity back in the old days. The drunken fun lasted for centuries before dying out and then being brought back to life by a guy named Pierre Celis in the 1960’s. He created a white beer that eventually came to be known as Hoegaarden.
Hoegaarden white beer from Belgium was one of my first ever tastes of European beer on European soil, and while I know it’s just a big mass-produced AB-InBev brand nowadays, I still have a soft spot for it. A cold draft Hoegaarden on a hot summer night will always be one of my go-to moves, and I’m not going to apologize for it.
Apparently, they are now making other beers under the Hoegaarden brand like this thing I picked up at the local beer shop called Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit. Seems a bit shady if you ask me, but I figured the least I could do was buy it, take it home, pour it in a glass, and drink it.
So, what was Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit like? Well, when I opened the bottle and tilted it, the beer poured out, so we were off to a good start. Once it poured out, it looked nothing like a white (wheat) beer. It’s “maroony” in color and has a toasty brown taste with maybe a medium body? I would say it is probably meant to be more like one of those Belgian Trappy beers than a wheat beer. Despite the name, there is absolutely nothing fruity about it.
Is it a good beer? I would say so, yes.
So, if you like good beer, keep an eye out for it when you buy beer and you could be the next person to drink it.