Brewery: Poppels bryggeri
Country: Sweden
Size: 33cl
ABV: 6.8%
Price: 28kr
Systembolaget: 31411
Whilst putting together an ecological beer tasting, I began to research the main brewers of eco friendly beers that I could get my hands on. The first name on my sheet was Poppels. It is Swedens largest ecological brewery, and second largest craft brewer in Sweden. They sold over 616,000 litres of beer in 2017, beaten only in the craft brewing stakes in volume by Oppigårds (1.78 million litres). The entire range of Poppels beer was certified as being ecological in 2016 and so of course I had include at least one of their beers into the list. I decided to go for the wheat IPA as I find it a rather special style. I think it’s one of my favourite mix of styles if done correctly as you get that lovely freshness of the wheat coupled with the bite of the IPA hops. It can be hard to get the perfect balance and although I think Poppels have done really well but they just missed the mark slightly.
It had a slight cloudy golden hue to it, with medium carbonation and a nice bright “santas beard” foamy head. The smell was fresh and inviting, with pineapple, lime, and fresh grass all present in the aroma. A zingy lime hit comes through first on the tongue quickly followed sweet wheat and then some resin like hops behind it. Pine, straw and a phenolic character were also present. It had a medium body and left the mouth feeling quite dry in the aftertaste. It felt very fresh and a nice beer for the summer.
Did I enjoy this beer? Yes, I did. I enjoyed both the nice wheat beer character and the IPA bitterness that came through at the end. I wanted the wheat to shine through a bit more though as it wasn’t as strong as I like. I could easily drink this again, and it wasn’t bad for the price. A slight improvement to the wheat flavour and this would be perfect, but a good job none the less.