Another offering brewed up by the patron Saint of beekeepers everywhere, none other than St. Ambroise. This time the venerated vintner from McAusland out of Montreal has whipped us up an apricot wheat to wet our whistles. When it comes to the drupes, those stoned fruits, I love me a peach. Pretender to the peach throne, the malnourished, smaller and less sweet cousin, the apricot, not so much.
An apricot instead of a peach? Don’t even think it. Consider the following: James and the Giant Apricot *; Apricoty keen; As pretty as an apricot; An apricot of an idea; Life is not all apricots and cream. Just doesn’t work. Let’s hope this brew doesn’t work like an apricot idiom.
But a laidback end of a hellish hot day on the ol’ boathouse called for a light, dare I say frisky, libation. Enter an apricot blonde. I know, it’s not peach but it will have to do.
Off to a great start with a picture-perfect pour. Clear golden with an apricot (or is that peach?) tint to it, and a full frothy bright white bleached blonde head. They tell us this is “delicately fruity” but the aroma is definitely apricot and nothing subtle about it. First and much anticipated quaff is apricot, tasty with a light wheat body and a very dry flat finish and slightly chalky aftertaste. The fruit did not abate but seemed to get stronger, bearing fruit but not overbearing. A salty snack seemed to counteract the chalk, Sun Chips to the rescue. Just enough fruit to make it nice summery suds.
A great summertime wheat, it could be a brunch brew, definitely a daytime drinking candidate. Maybe not peach, but certainly peachy.
*Editor’s Comment: James and the Giant Peach is the classic 1961 children’s book by Roald Dahl.
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