I was going to cheat on you, have a beer and not review it but this 5.5% Belgian pale ale is too good not to note. A massive rocky off white head sits over dark straw ale. The malt is all pear juice - quite extraordinary. It has a great French bread crust texture as well as some fine lacy faded hopping giving a twiggy and slightly green aspect accentuating the pear from the malt. The yeast gives a clove tang that you expect in a hefeweizen.

This is the first Leifmans I have had which, at its base, is not a Flemish brown. $5.99 CND for 350 ml at Marche Jovi in Gatineau, Quebec. A very smooth and likable pale ale and a good first introduction for any newbie friends to Belgian ales or even the sort of flavours you could encounter in a hefe. Too bad the 8% of BAers who reject this one seem to have expected another sour Flemish brown rather than focusing on what this beer is in itself.