Trying out 'Sjaele Wiekser' beer brewn by a buddy

I remember a couple of years back there was a whole wave of new beer brewers starting off and a lot of people were making craft beer at home. This was during the times that we all stayed home a lot more and it were golden days for home brewers because there was time.

For me this was also the time of discovering that I have a sweet spot for New England IPA (NEIPA) for the taste of it. Sweet, a lot of body and also a lot of fruitness in there. The downside from the increasing popularity? There were also a lot of NEIPAs that tasted like crap because they were still in the experimental phase and needed a lot of tweaking. Also...the NEIPA's in the supermarket were increasing in price by the week, and all of a sudden it wasn't really fun anymore to just buy and try random stuff. It just got stupidly expensive.





Recently I have been more into just having lagers here and there, also because it makes the night a lot easier. NEIPA's hit you hard every now and then. Harder than you would enjoy, and with lager you know what will be coming up.

But when a buddy texted a while back if I was interested in buying a case from him because he was expanding his beer experiment, I didn't hesitate a second. After all....projects by friends you should always support right?

Sjaele Wiekser

When the case arrived months later and I had already forgotten about it, the surprise was even better. Coming with two glasses and some beer mats (sorry no snap of these ones) and a full case it was a good deal.

And immediately I laughed with the unboxing because of the name.





'Sjaele Wiekser' is a saying that comes from a local band called the 'Jannes Bagge Bend' and is used in their songs. Because 'Sjaele Wiekser' means something like 'crooked eyed wanker' but then in total dialect from the south of the Netherlands. That is one of the coolest jokes around if you ask me. We need more dialect!

The label also looks great so on the visuals everything seems to have a go already.

On to the taste!

The taste was actually awesome and exactly how you would hope that and NEIPA would turn out to be. Fruity, fresh but still deep and the colour was also nice and deep.

I like using my little tasting glassed which always fit half of a bottle in there so the bottle doesn't go warm.

So I was happy with the package. And these guys are doing a nice job with their mini brewery called Zwetsbeer with trying of different types of beer (which I naturally also will try as well, because that is what you do).

Even Untapped has the reviews flowing in and everyone seems enthusiastic on it.

Yay! It seems like NEIPA is back on the table again!





As always kids...drink responsible and a big cheers to the weekend!