The city of Ypres is more known for its military history than for breweries now, but it used to boast as many as 30. After the end of WWI only five breweries reopened, with the last of those closing in 1976. Ypres was then without a city brewery.
Step forward Hans Depypere (CEO of St Bernardus) and Rudi Ghequire (master brewer at Rodenbach) who together opened the Ypres City Brewery Kazematten in 2014. Now run by the children of these Belgian brewing stalwarts, the Wipers Times is their beer with a great story.
The names refers to the ‘trench gazette; written by British solders during WWI. It is a top fermented blond beer that uses 4 different malts, 4 different spices and only locally grown hops. One of those spices is the Maria Thistle (also called the ‘Blessed Thistle’) which is said to have medicinal properties. Its image was also included on the front page of the trench gazette.
It is a lovely looking hazy blond beer with a thick foam and an aroma of doughy bread mixed with an interesting spice character. To taste the first thing you notice is how creamy the beer is, sitting firmly on the palate.
A good malt body that carries the beer all the way, the spices offer some flavour spikes throughout the journey, finishing with a pleasant earthy, prickly dry aftertaste.
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