Wit

I stumbled upon this bottle of Dogfish Head Red & White a couple weeks ago while visiting Colorado. I wasn't really seeking this beer out, and never thought I'd have an opportunity to try it. So, I really knew nothing about this beer going in to it... The label says this is an ale brewed with coriander, orange peel and Pinot Noir juice. Sounds interesting enough, like a Witbier with red wine grapes added. At 10% alcohol by volume, the Red & White will definitely be the strongest Witbier I've ever had and with the Pinot Noir juice & barrel aging, this has got to be the most complex as well.

Grand Teton is a bit of an unknown... I've had one of their beers before, their Au Naturale Organic Blonde. Well, I had a sample of it at a beer festival. Organic beers are pretty hit or miss so I wouldn't want to judge a brewery by their one off. So I went into this big 750 of Tail Waggin' Double White with an open mind. I've had a few double Witbiers before so I had an idea of what I wanted to taste in this beer. I was hoping it'd be sweet, tart, a little sour and be smooth throughout. Opening this capped 750ml bottle was a bit anticlimactic because there was no Wit aroma there to greet me...

Allagash is another brewery that is spoken of in very high regard but isn't distributed in my area. I've always wanted to try one of their beers and recently found a four pack of bottles while on a road trip. While I was excited about finding Allagash bottles, I was a little less excited about the selection... Basically, it was Allagash White or no Allagash at all. I grabbed a four pack and went on my way. With cautious optimism I poured the first bottle of Allagash White into my tulip and prepared to experience the best that Maine has to offer (as far as Wit beers go that is).

I've been putting off drinking this bottle of Friar's Belgian-Style White Ale from Sherwood Forest Brewers because it all seems a bit... fake. I can't fault these guys for the obvious, making a Belgian Wit outside of Belgium, that's not my quarrel. What turned me off to this beer was all the Robin Hood references. They're kitschy in an annoying sort of way. Unless you're selling this beer to six year olds who think Robin Hood and Friar Tuck are cool, don't hide your beer behind public domain cartoon characters. It feels like you're talking down to me, "I know you like Robin Hood so maybe you'll like our beer because it has a cartoony Friar Tuck on it!" Seriously, let the beer speak for itself...

This is the second Hitachino Nest beer that I've had this year. My first was the Red Rice Ale which really surprised me. I wasn't expecting a Japanese rice beer to be so flavorful and ...good. So when I saw the Hitachino Nest White Ale at the store a couple weeks ago I just had to get it. Part of me thought that maybe the Red Rice Ale was a fluke and the other beers from Kuichi will be more like what I'd expected. Today I finally decide to open up this White Ale and give it due diligence. I soon noticed that Kiuchi had done it again, first impressions of this beer were pretty surprising. The best way to describe the Hitachino Nest White Ale is to think of a traditional Witbier that has was brewed with a little bit of lemon and orange. The appearance of this beer is what you'd expect from other Wits, though it is a little darker yellow and slightly more opaque. All of the other flavors in the beer are signatures of the Wit style. This beer is sour and a little spicy but everything is balanced nicely by the sweet citrus flavors.

Boulevard's Zon delivers on the unspoken promise of its name. It's a summer seasonal beer that lives up to the light and citrusy Belgian Wit style. Boulevard's take on the Belgian original does leave a bit to be desired. It's a summer beer and it's intentionally light and refreshing, but the downside to that is this beer comes off as a bit boring. I do enjoy the flavor of the Zon and I appreciate all of it's light characteristics but it just leaves me wanting more. Not more bottles of Zon, but more flavor and more texture. The Zon does plenty of things right, it has a good fruity/citrus flavor that leaves a pleasingly sour aftertaste. My main gripe with the Zon is that it just doesn't do anything outstanding, and in a fridge full of stellar Belgian Wits it's just too easy to pass over the Zon in favor of something a bit more interesting.

The latest beer in Boulevard's Smokestack series is called Two Jokers. It's a Double Wit beer which was something that intrigued me when I first heard of this release. As someone who loves wit beers (the wit/weiss style may be my absolute favorite style) I was initially very excited to try the Two Jokers... but then I got to thinking... "I really like wits, do I really need twice that much sour banana in my beer?" We all know there can be too much of a good thing, but does the same law really apply to beer? I'd say yes it does. Take hops for example. Personally, I can appreciate some fairly hoppy beers but when we get into IPA and APA territory my palate shuts down. I can't handle the hop overload... It's literally too much of a good thing, for me at least. So, did Boulevard create a sour overload with the Two Jokers, or were they able to find a good balance?