Beer Review: Blondie Belgian Wit

BELGIAN BEAUTY: Mata Blondie Belgian Wit, better than the real thing. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

My first experience with a Belgian witbier was the classic and most well known of them all - Hoegaarden - and it happened to be in the land of its creators.

I spent a few weeks staying in a small town near Brussels and really enjoyed their famous beer on tap at the local.

While I'm reminiscing, the bar was actually an Irish bar, run by a Kiwi from Wellington. His mum was ambassador to Belgium at the time.

Anyway, I can tell you that like Ireland's Guinness, Hoegaarden does not travel at all well. Every time I've tried it here I screwed my face up trying to remember what the original tasted like.

However, New Zealand brewers have not produced a lot of great witbier, otherwise known as white beer, so I decided to try Kawerau's Aotearoa Breweries Mata Blondie Belgian Wit. It was a pleasant surprise.

It's a super fruity drop with plenty of lemon/lime citrus flavours finished with a tangy, peppery taste. Full of flavour with unfiltered Belgian yeast.

It pours a very light golden amber, almost see through.

I really liked this offering from Mata, who love to use native ingredients like horopito in their beers. Maybe that's the "secret ingredient" mentioned on the bottle?

But, this is a really decent effort on a difficult style of beer.

If there is one small fault it could be a little watery for lovers of stronger style beers.

It also won a silver medal at the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards 2014.

I could drink it for hours on a hot summer's day. Two thumbs up from me.