Beer Reviews- North American Belgian White (Wit)

One of my favorite beer styles for the summer is Belgian White beer, or Belgian Witbier, or "vit" if you want to be a dick about it. While I really enjoy hefeweizens, I find American wheats to be pretty bland most of the time, and there's something about Belgian white beers that are perfect for summer. When done right they are a great balance of refreshment and taste. It's become an extremely popular style in recent years, and it seems like practically every brewery has a version. While I think the true giants of the style, most notably Hoegaarden, Witterkerke, and even Ommegang Witte and Allagash White, aren't worth my time to review...because they are just perfect examples, I picked up several others to try. Like a lot of styles of beer, while a perfect white beer is great, I think its a style that is very easy to make bland, I've had quite a few commerical examples that fall short.
I picked up three different ones that all had their high points, and they are: Summit's Scandia, Avery's White Rascal, and Unibroue's Blanch De Chambly.

Summit Scandia: Along with their excellent Hefeweizen, this is Summit's summer beer. This was interesting for Summit because it's the only Belgian style ale I can remember them making. Anyway, onto the beer. This beer pours a cloudy golden-lemony color with a foamy three finger, bright white head. Wonderful citrus aroma and cardamom. Instead of the traditional coriander in the wit, Summit went for a twist with cardamom and I think it gives it a nice subtle flavor, almost softer spiciness. A nice carbonation and smooth mouthfeel, there's a great lingering sweetness. Overall, I think it's a solid white beer, the cardamom really gives it a nice twist and there's a refreshing quality balanced with the sweetness.

Avery White Rascal: Avery is a brewery that I haven't tried much of, but what I have has been very good. I've had the Old World Porter and IPA, which were very good with some nice aggressiveness in both beers to make them interesting for the style. I expected the same from the White Rascal. In no way a let down, it was a solid, easily drinkable white beer. It pours a clear, very pale-straw yellow with a thin white head. A nice aroma right away of coriander and orange peel. Great light, refreshing body that is well balanced between sweetness and citrus. Fizzy carbonation, and a nice lingering sweetness in the finish with just a little bit of sour yeastiness. A very solid example of an "American" Belgian Ale.


Unibroue Blanche de Chambly: This brewery from Montreal is one I've come close to buying beers from in the past, and based on this beer I will definintley pick up their other offerings. Supposedly the brewers at Unibroue were trained in Belgium and apply traditional techniques to their brewing. This verison of a white is up there with the ones I mentioned before and similar to Ommegang in the approximating of a tradtional style. It pours a straw yellow, extremely pale, with a thick white head. Lemon and corriander aromas hit you first with some yeasty "funk" hidden in there as well. Very fizzy carbonation, yet it has a very soft nouthfeel. Slightly tart but balanced perfectly with sweetness and a slight presence of citrus. I wrote down " Excellent" about three times when I made my notes. Just a perfect example of a Belgian Witbier.


So, those are my thoughts on this particular round of witbiers. Like I mentioned, it seems like everyone makes one for the summer. They are very accessible to a lot of people, yet I think they can be a complex and wonderfully balanced beer when done right. One I didn't mention because I've reviewed it before was John's White Ale. In the midst of buying the beers above, Jeff came back from a visit to Iowa with the now requisite pack of Millstream beer for me. In the sampler pack was some John's for me. My wife and I both thought that, (she didn't try the Blanche), it was the best of the bunch. I think I need to start a petition to get Millstream distributed to Minnesota (it's currently in Wisconsin and Illinois)!
Salud!
Bearded Brewer