Tonight we are tasting “Poperings – Hommel Ale”


This beer is brewed in the heart of the Belgian hops region: Poperinge.
Poperings – Hommel Ale
This beer is indeed bitter, it has a light citrus taste and aroma and reminds me a very clean and crisp Sierra Nevada. It finishes clean with very little aftertaste of the bitter hops like I usually taste with a Sierra Nevada. It is slightly sweet with notes of citrus and honey. Devon smells aroma of peach, but I think its more of a citrus/fruit flavor. She does note that there is no flavor of peach.

As noted on “globalbeer.com”:

“Poperings Hommel ale is brewed with a blend of summer, winter and aromatic pale malts. The brewery has its own well where soft water is found, and only local grown hops from the Gold and Hallertau family are used.”

The soft water is probably what gives the clean finish and the aromatic malts give the citrus and honey aromas.

Devon, who prefers light lagers like PBR, Yuengling and Bud over bitters actually enjoyed this beer. I think we were both surprised with the flavor of the beer and the balance of the bitterness of the hops with the clean finish.

The sweetness of the malts helped to offset the bitterness of the hops. We were unable to find the actual IBC rating for this beer, but if I was to guess, I would say its around 20 or 30.