7Bräu: Han River Ale (South Korea: Belgian Wit: 5.2% ABV)
Visual: Hazy lemon juice. Slight white head. Some peppery looking sediment.
Nose: Light grapes. Light grapefruit. Orange.
Body: Lemon sherbet. Tart grape touch. Wite pepper. Vanilla. Bready. Light tangerine. Milky.
Finish: White pepper. Tangerine. Lemon. Wheaty.
Conclusion: Ok, trying 7Bräu beers, round 2! aaaand, I’m already sensing a trend. Again this is lightly bready, less so than before. Again there is light orange. Now apparently the orange beer had a wit base, and this is apparently a take on a wit, so dunno if the trend will run to their other beers, but yeah, they have that in common so far.
Thankfully this beer has a bit more going on with it than the Dalseo orange ale. It is lightly milky, kind of wheaty, despite not actually showing much in the way of traditional wit beer characteristics. It does have a more varied citrus range, going between lemon and grapes which makes it moderately fresh. It feels like a bready orval meets a wit meets a bit of new wave citrus hops. Again though, not as great as that sounds.
It is, again, a bit staid, but is definitely more enjoyable than the orange ale. It feels like a moderately sessionable character from the earthy base and gentle flavours, with a bit of pepper from white pepper character which adds a much needed bit of kick to it. That pepper is probably the best aspect, it really stands out as a bit different, and gives life to what is otherwise quite average.
The big problem is that the flavours are generally slightly muted. They need to be a bit crisper and clearer, maybe a touch lower abv to match the session style it seems to be aiming for. If they could make those tweaks then this could end up as quite a pleasant sipping beer.
A good base idea, but one that could do with a lot of work to make it better crafted to bring out its potential.
Background: Take 2! This is a nice treat. My mate, Tony, went over to South Korea a short while back and brought a few of their beers back. He invited me over to his place to try them with him, and was willing to indulge me in me doing tasting notes on two of them (of which this is the second). Very many thanks! It is not often you see Korean beers over here so I did not want to miss the chance. Also if the photo looks like it is in a much fancier place than normal that is the reason.
Just to add, as both these notes have been very middle of the road, I also tried their Gangseo Mild Ale which was a very pleasant blond mild. That one is worth checking out – if I had known before I totally would have done notes on that one instead. Ah well.
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