White beer (Dutch: witbier, French: bière blanche) is a barley/wheat beer brewed mainly in Belgium, although there are also examples in the Netherlands and elsewhere. It gets its name due to suspended wheat proteins which cause the beer to look hazy, or white, when cold. It is a descendant from those Medieval beers which were not brewed with hops, but instead flavoured and preserved with a blend of spices and other plants referred to as gruut. It therefore still uses gruut, although nowadays the gruut consists mainly of coriander, orange and hops. The taste is therefore only slightly hoppish, and is very refreshing in summer. The beers have a somewhat sour taste due to the lactic acid. They have a second fermentation in the bottle.