Beer Styles: Belgian Wit (White)

[Meow-Mix]

any other fans here? This is one of my favorite types of beer. Surprisingly, Blue Moon used to make a really good one years ago. Highly aromatic, when you opened the bottle, that beautiful aroma would waft up quite strongly to your nose, the orange peel and coriander, great taste.

However, something changed. Im not sure what happened, but at one point that strong aroma disappeared, the taste was still the same but not as strong, much weaker beer these days.

Hoegaarden makes a pretty good one. Celis is allright, nothing great imo.

[tommy]

i haven't see much of a drop off in quality of blue moon's beer, even though they were bought by a huge company (coors?).

for you home brewers, this is a fantastic and easy beer to make, and it approaches "cooking" even more than others, as you're messing with coriander and orange peels.

remember Wit? that tanked in the early 90's, although it was a belgian style white. i've had some since, and it's not all that horrible. not much unlike blue moon's, in fact.

[john b]

Try Allagash White and Victory Whirlwind Wit. They are my two favorite American versions of Belgian Wit beers.

[Lita]

Have you ever tried New Belgium Brewery's Trippel (pronounced 'triple') Belgian-Styler ale? If you like Belgian white ale, you would love this one. It's my favorite U.S. microbrew.

[malarkey]

LOVE belgian wit style. One of my faves is LaChouffe Golden. YUM.

I thought Blue Moon was always a Coors product. ??

[tommy]

I thought Blue Moon was always a Coors product. ??

that might very well be the case, as i was speaking strictly from assumption and ignorance. i just assumed they, like many micro-breweries, were bought up at some point.

[john b]

I thought Blue Moon was always a Coors product. ??

that might very well be the case, as i was speaking strictly from assumption and ignorance. i just assumed they, like many micro-breweries, were bought up at some point.

I think Blue Moon was a Coors creation, an attempt to tap into the micro market.

[beerguyjim]

Blue Moon has always been a Coors product. Coors brewer Keith Villa studied brewing in Belgium, incidentally. Coors has used its SandLot Brewery at Coors Field to test recipes for the Blue Moon line, which has included a raspberry beer and a brown ale, and still features a seasonal pumpkin ale. (Not sure if that one disappeared for a time, but it's being sold this year IAC.)

[beerguyjim]

Have you ever tried New Belgium Brewery's Trippel (pronounced 'triple') Belgian-Styler ale? If you like Belgian white ale, you would love this one. It's my favorite U.S. microbrew.

Tripel is really much different than white beer. Higher gravity, for starters, and generally not so overtly spicy.

[Lita]

Have you ever tried New Belgium Brewery's Trippel (pronounced 'triple') Belgian-Styler ale? If you like Belgian white ale, you would love this one. It's my favorite U.S. microbrew.

Tripel is really much different than white beer. Higher gravity, for starters, and generally not so overtly spicy.

I did not mean to suggest that white ale and trippel were the same thing. If you like white ales, I think you would also enjoy trippel ales.

[Vikram]

Hoegaarden makes a pretty good one. Celis is allright, nothing great imo.

I don't usually drink beer, but wheat beers (does witbier translate as white beer or wheat beer?) like Hoegaarden, I adore. On the India forum I recently recklessly dismissed all attempts to match wine and Indian food, a pointless pairing especially when there really was a good pairing in white beer. Its the lightness and the spiciness and the coolness, that all balance out Indian food brilliantly. Why don't more people make them? Are they hard or expensive to make?

Vikram

[john b]

Hoegaarden makes a pretty good one. Celis is allright, nothing great imo.

I don't usually drink beer, but wheat beers (does witbier translate as white beer or wheat beer?) like Hoegaarden, I adore. On the India forum I recently recklessly dismissed all attempts to match wine and Indian food, a pointless pairing especially when there really was a good pairing in white beer. Its the lightness and the spiciness and the coolness, that all balance out Indian food brilliantly. Why don't more people make them? Are they hard or expensive to make?

Vikram

Wheat beers, whether they be German or American hefewiezens, or Belgian or American wit, also go well with Chinese and Thai dishes, especially spicy dishes.

[Meow-Mix]

Hoegaarden makes a pretty good one. Celis is allright, nothing great imo.

Its the lightness and the spiciness and the coolness, that all balance out Indian food brilliantly. Why don't more people make them? Are they hard or expensive to make?

Vikram

My guess is it hasn't caught on in popularity enough yet.

[Meow-Mix]

Have you ever tried New Belgium Brewery's Trippel (pronounced 'triple') Belgian-Styler ale? If you like Belgian white ale, you would love this one. It's my favorite U.S. microbrew.

I've seen it but never had it before. Sounds promising, will have to try it.

[beerguyjim]

I don't usually drink beer, but wheat beers (does witbier translate as white beer or wheat beer?) like Hoegaarden, I adore. On the India forum I recently recklessly dismissed all attempts to match wine and Indian food, a pointless pairing especially when there really was a good pairing in white beer. Its the lightness and the spiciness and the coolness, that all balance out Indian food brilliantly. Why don't more people make them? Are they hard or expensive to make?

I don't know where you live, but in my area (northern Virginia) there are several white beers available. (Wit means white, btw.)

Allagash, Hoegaarden, Blanche de Chambly, Blue Moon, for starters, and a number of seasonal witbiers in the summer.

[sylunt1]

Believe it or not - Sam Adams White Ale is suprisingly good. Not a huge sam fan but this was very nice. Similar to Blue Moon. I was impressed.

[cdh]

I've not yet found anything as pleasing as the Austin brewed Celis White was. I really miss that. It had the perfect flavor and body. I find that witbiers succeed or fail based on their mouthfeel more often than not. Some are too dense, some are too thin, but Celis White really was the right balance.

[Okbrewer]

For an exceptional Wit beer, and one that noone has yet mentioned, you might try a beer from Japan! Hitachino Nest White beer is a very good example of this style, spicy yet soft and smooth in the mouth.

[syzygy8]

Believe it or not - Sam Adams White Ale is suprisingly good. Not a huge sam fan but this was very nice. Similar to Blue Moon. I was impressed.

The Sammy White Ale went down mighty good yesterday afternoon at a rooftop bar in Georgetown, here in DC. Hottest day of the year so far (87 degrees) and they were very refreshing drafts after a long day outdoors.

[malarkey]

For an exceptional Wit beer, and one that noone has yet mentioned, you might try a beer from Japan! Hitachino Nest White beer is a very good example of this style, spicy yet soft and smooth in the mouth.

I've had this one and I was very impressed!

Recently I was given a small glass of Blanche de Chambly as a palette cleanser after the main dinner course at Le Crocodile in Vancouver. Very surprising the sommelier would throw something like that in there. I thought it was brilliant!

[sylunt1]

Blanche de Chambly - oh yes... Unibroue makes some excellent beer - Maudite is one of my top picks (though not a wit beer)