Leffe Royale - ELLA - can Tasmanian hops bring some life in boring concern beer?

LEFFE ROYALE ELLA

Belgian Ale

Brewed by: Leffe (In-Bev)

Bad side of my personality is that whenever I see new beer I am teased to try it. Reasonable part of my personality is telling me – what do you want from new Leffe? You know yourself that this the only thing they can do is boring reproduction of their own work. On top, you should know it better – anytime you have tried new Leffe (eg. Belgian IPA) it was disappointing.

But again, I couldn’t resist when I have spotted Leffe hopped with Tasmanian hops. Tasmanian hops gave very interesting results in the Irish craft beers I have recently tried, therefore the temptation was too big.

So was the disappointment – beer is malty and yeasty in both aroma and taste. Bitterness from hops is minimal and aromas of hops are clearly not there. Real waste of time and money.

But, don’t get me wrong – this beer also had its good side – I was recently looking for a new Leffe Caractere, just to see what they can obtain using whisky macerated oak chips. But after the Elle I have realized that whatever they get its simply not interesting for me anymore. I am getting excellent oak chips macerated beers on the regular basis (and nobody is setting their price as high as Leffe) and am simply fed up with another gigantic company trying to sell their products as they would be craft*.

·       This may be a bad surprise, but Leffe is not small, independent family brewer. It is owned by AB-Inbev. One of the biggest beer producers (I will not use brewers) in the world. Yes, same guys that are providing you with “great” drinks like Budweiser (USA), Bud Light, Corona and other water infused water.