27 January 2018

Gentlemen’s Wit Beer (Waitrose @CamdenBrewery) By @SpectreUK


I'd literally just finished a mug of Earl Grey Tea before picking up this Gentlemen's Wit beer and finding that it is flavoured with the same bergamot and lemon zest. I was thinking what made gentlemen's wit before realising the 'wit' meant 'white' through traditional Belgian white beer preparation. The first person I thought of was Roger Moore, who sadly passed away into legend last year. He may have played himself in mostly everything, but that was definitely a gentleman and reminiscent of the label "that politely packs a punch'. Roger is still my favourite Bond, I did like Sean Connery, but Roger had the charming wit and still had the deadliness to blow up everything on the way out at the end of each film. I haven't met many gentlemen in my life, but the ones that spring to mind was a dapper man I worked with twenty years ago called Richard or "Dickie" Bird, he was always cheerful, very funny and hard working. And of course there was my dear old dad, who also passed away last year.

Gentlemen's Wit is made with Pilsner, wheat and torrified wheat malts, with Belgian yeast, Perle hops and of course the lemon zest and bergamot. I could certainly smell the Pilsner, wheat and zesty hops and a touch of yeast on opening the 330ml bottle. This 4.3% volume white beer is almost ghost like in golden milky colour. The Pilsner and wheat flavoured malts soothed my tastebuds first, closely followed by a sheer lemon citrus bitterness, which complemented the bergamot that took over from this zesty blast growing stronger in flavour as it danced around my mouth and into the aftertaste leaving a light taste of yeast, lemon and bergamot. This is quite a complex beer with it's wheatiness, zesty citrus bitterness and bergamot. I expect it would go very well with fishy dishes and spicy meals, or just enjoyed on its own on a sunny afternoon watching a Bond film… and make it an old one!

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