When I heard Helios and Spotty Dog had collabed on a hazy IPA called Splat, I thought, “OK, cool. Good breweries. Should be a good beer.”
But if I’d been told they collabed on a Belgian wit stuffed with bitter orange and blood orange, I would have started running towards it so quickly the ground would have bunched up under my feet like a hallway rug, Looney-Tunes-style.
I’m a big fan of Belgian witbiers.* I’m a big fan of orange in beer.** So I don’t care that the additions of Motueka and Eclipse hops make Helios’ Jake Harrison say: “What that’s created is, in my opinion, no longer a Belgian wit at all. It’s way more of a hazy IPA than a wit.” I say Splat is an orange Belgian witbier that happens to be heavily dry-hopped. The zest starts early and finishes late. Those hops double down on the intense citrus character, but there’s a slight breadiness and Belgian spice I reckon keeps you firmly in Belgian wit territory.
I was right with my initial prediction that Helios and Spotty Dog would make a crackin’ beer, even if I disagree with the style they put onto the label.
There’s one thing I will agree with Jake on: “If you like juice, get around this beer. It slaps, man.”
Slap it does, Jake. Slap it does.
Mick Wüst
PS Forgive me for being a little late off the mark with this one. Helios delivered samples closer to release date, but they were stolen from my front step and it was a couple of weeks before we figured this out and arranged new samples. I kind of want to find the thief just to ask them if they thought this beer was more like a hazy IPA or an orange Belgian wit.
* Pair them with pizza. Thank me later. ** And have been ever since the Mismatch Negroni IPA of 2016, which received repeated mentions in my beer blog at the time.
Published October 17, 2024 2024-10-17 00:00:00
