Grozet Gooseberry Wheat

Grozet Gooseberry Wheat Fraoch, A
Historic Ales from Scotland
Heather Ale Ltd - Williams Bros.
0,33l
5%

Now some of you might remember that some year(s) ago I had a series of 4 titled Historic Ales from Scotland. The package holds 4 of a series of 5, depending on the time of year. The covered beers are Fraoch, Ebulum, Alba, Kelpie and Grozet. Now the alst 4 pack didn't cover Grozet and when I stumbled over the 4 pack of Historic Ales again I thought hey let's see and this one had it.. so as I liked the other brews in itI bought another 4 pack only to get my hands on Grozet. I am a huge Gooseberry fan though not a huge wheat fan but I simply had to see how this turned out. Ratebeer didn't seem to like it but like always I didn't read the comments so I wouldn't get biased in my own article about it.
Apparently nowadays there are two versions of the label.. a more modern one and the one I got. I like the old style look of it, the brown label explains that a nearby school designed it and it depicts a spiral with a cross in it. I'm a huge fan of the almost medieval looking labels in the series and am a tad bit sad that they appear to have introduced new shinier ones... but hey.. what can one do.

The documentation and the ingredient list states that it is fermented with bog myrtle and meadowsweet then secondary fermented with gooseberries.

This again called for the certified beer tasting glass so that it was...

It pours easily, slightly orange gold in color and slightly cloudy as well with very little sediment. A small head of fine and big bubbles is present,

The aroma is very fresh and fruity, reminding me of an IPA without the hops. I imagine to smell the gooseberries but that can, of course, be only my imagination. There is a tart tone present and it makes my mouth water indeed.

Now I do have high expectations simply because I remember the other members of the series so fondly.

It is sweeter than I imagined at the first taste but then gets added bitter tones only to change to the fruitiness of the gooseberries which balance it nicely between sweet and sour. The carbonation is nice and the whole brew is very light and refreshing with an ample amount of different taste aspects. Alas, it is missing the certain something. It's like a pyramid without the top, like the Sphinx without its nose. I definitely love the gooseberries but with all the great taste aspects that are present none can decide to be the dominating one and that is the problem of this beer. It is tart, it is bitter, it is fruity and mellow, alas it is all of this at once and thus ends being too well balanced.

In any case though an excellent brew to try!

Prost!

DMW