It's summer and it's strawberry time.

It was all downhill from the ‘Good old Boys’ onwards – my body decided it was time to remind me who is boss around here and it isn’t me anymore.

Also, I have failed to track down any Kwack and I still haven’t found a special chemo hat, a hat with pizzazz. The clock is ticking on that one.  

I’ve been feeling a bit sorry for myself, too.

Anyway, when you’re feeling a bit down, a bit low, the blues messing with your head, it always helps to do something for someone else, to stop thinking just of yourself, to stop being a selfish so and so.

Therefore, to do some good, make the world a better place, help people and generally be a more social person, I’m doing another beer review.

It’s important work.

The last one was Tesco’s bargain basement ‘Kriek bier’, a bright and sparky cherry beer from Belgium, only a pound and really nice. The problem was that it was just a bit too red, a bit too sparkly, a bit too sweet and there was a hint of chemical in the background. I liked it a lot – I think it’s the Bart Simpson in me.

Today I thought I’d go in the other direction – I’ve gone for ‘Fruli’, described as a premium (£1-79p) strawberry beer from Belgium. It’s new to me, although I’ve seen it around for years, it’s a ‘white’ beer although not strictly a (hardline, cloudy) wheat beer as it has barley malt as well as wheat in it.

Mmmm, it’s summer and its strawberry time.

Home is the Huyghe Brewery, Melle-Belgium, which somehow seems a bit industrial to me – also the label is multi-lingual;   OI, Olut, Bierre, Bier, Birra, Cerveza and that’s a bit of a worry (massive production run).

Anyway, here it is, sorry about the glass;

 

 

 Good head, a clean beer to look at, just a smear of cloud. Good aroma; tart and sweet at the same time. Lots of pink. It does actually taste of a light white beer with a lot of added strawberry too. Leisurely aftertaste.

Unless I was feeling very sad and nostalgic, I don’t think I’d want to be drinking this in the winter. It’s very summery and very continental. I drank it as I watched the evening highlights of this afternoons stage of the Tour de France. It should have been a simple bunch sprint finish, but the strong wind was exploited by Mark Cavendish’s Belgian team, who would have grown up racing hard winds from the North Sea in echelons. So there was a classic and exciting breakaway, a chase by a splitting field and a very intelligent sprint by the ‘Cav’ to win.

Belgian tactics, British stage win, Belgian beer and a hot summer evening.

Not so bad after all.

I think next time it’s going to be ‘extreme’ beer drinking mmmmh.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)