Michigan Brewing Company's Celis White

This post will be proof positive to the one person who ever reads it that I can be objective. Just because I don't like something, doesn't mean it isn't done right.

This one pours a hazy yellow with a fizzy white head that fades fairly quickly. Throws off a ton of floral hops and that weird, chemical smelling yeast that I don't like. But, of course, it's supposed to be like that.

Ooof. Smells the same. Do.Not.Like.

Yeah, tastes to me like a weak form of cleaning solution. It's zippy and light, with a huge amount of the Belgian-type yeast that I just cannot stand.

But for the style, it's very good. It has all of the characteristics that a Belgian wit should have, and is fairly strong for one as well. So if you like for even the lighter beers to have a little more kick than usual, and like Belgians, you'll like this one.

I just don't, though.

Dogfish Head's Red and White

Alright, I know ahead of time it's a wit, but I couldn't avoid the hype.

Pours a solid amber with large particulates and a nice light tan head.

Smells sweet, like a white grape juice. The yeast smell that I don't like is barely present, so I'm hoping the taste is better than I expected.

Sure enough, it's like a sweet, grapey, light bodied wit. The taste that I usually don't like in Belgians is almost imperceptible, so I drank it all. I won't buy it again, but it was interesting.

Ballast Point Brewing Company's Wahoo Wheat Beer

Damn. Every time I see a beer I haven't had I buy it. I have to learn to read first. I saw 'wheat' and jumped on this one, then got it home and saw that it's a Belgian style wit. Damn.

Pours like an American wheat. Clear golden yellow with a fizzy white head that disappears quickly. Pours fast, looks zippy.

Smells zippier than most Belgians too. Less yeasty, plastic-y, chemical-y. So far so good. I'm hoping the folks at Ballast Point just don't know what a Belgian wit tastes like, and the label is wrong. It also says a wit is characterized by its cloudy appearance due to the yeast and unmalted oats, and this one is clear as a bell. So even if they know what a wit is, it's not one so far.

Huh. Tastes like apple juice. There's a hit of Belgian, but it's very subdued. The body feels like apple juice--like heavy water. Very low carbonation lends to that feel. It hazes up slightly as it warms, and the carbonation picks up in the feel. But that just makes it feel zippy, like an American wheat.

Eh. Okay beer, I guess. This one may not be too fresh, but that probably played to my particular taste. A newer one may be more Belgian-y.

Unibroue's Blanche de Chambly

This is kind of the worst of both worlds for me--French-Canadian Unibroue, and a Belgian wit. But like the other recent Unibroue beers, it was part of a mixed pack that was cheaper to buy and try like that than to buy four packs or bombers of each separate beer.

Poured like Duvel, although I'm not sure it was supposed to. Good cloudy light yellow appearance with a huge off white head and strong carbonation. Looks right on type.

Smells on type too, with that odd plastic smell. I think this is like cilantro. A person is predisposed to hate it, and to me cilantro tastes like freezer burn. And wits smell like plastic.

You know, it's better than most wits. It has that light, airy, white grape flavor but a decent amount of malt as well. Almost no hops at all. I'll never reach for a wit when out, but I wouldn't mind of someone handed me one of these.

Unibroue's Ephemere

I'm not a Unibroue fanboy, although I do like La Fin Du Monde. They just lean a little too Belgian-y for my taste. But, I've always kind of wanted to try this one, and because it come in a mixed four pack it meant I'd be able to try all four types and pay 1/4 as much as usual, so I had to pick it up.

Pours a hazy yellow, with a crisp white head and huge carbonation that throws off the green apple smell aggressively. The smell is overwhelmingly green apple, but it can't completely hide the Belgian wit smell that I feared would follow the wit appearance.

Yep, that's exactly what this is. A tart Belgian wit. The tartness makes it much better than most, I'll give you that, and the apple flavor isn't over the top probably because I'd rather taste it than the wit, whereas in most beers this level of fruit (or spice, or smoke, or nut, or whatever) flavor would be too much.

Glad I had the opportunity to pick this up as a mixed pack. It'll prevent me from having to buy it in a larger quantity. But if you like wits, and think that fruit flavors should be overpowering, you'll like it better than I do.

Joseph James Brewing Company's Alpine Wit

Same as the last post, too many witbiers.

This one pours a dull orangey brownish, like an juice sauce with no preservatives that's starting to turn because it's been out of the fridge too long. No head. At all. Is this even a beer? An average of one carbonation bubble every second. Maybe. Not good.

Almost no smell, but what very little there is smells like the chemical/plastic smell that I've become accustomed to in this style.

Well, it has more taste than smell, and is low in the plastic taste, but high in adjunct grains as well. Feels dead. Tastes flat. I hope it's just out of date. If this is how they make their beers on purpose, they'll be out of business soon.

Lakefront Brewery's White Beer

I know I'm not going to like this beer. But it was free, and I'm a glutton for punishment.

Pours perfect for the style. Big fluffy white head with tiny cells and a hazy yellow color with moderate carbonation. Kind of an odd neon-like appearance. Slightly glowing.

Yeah, smells like a Belgian. It has the standard phenolic yeasty smell that many people call bananas and cloves, just because they think that's what they're supposed to say. It smells exactly like a Belgian wit should, but nothing like a banana and not even close to cloves.

Huh. You know what? It's OK. Still has a lot of the phenols I'm not fond of, but it's balanced by a twang that makes it work. Not bitterness from hops, really, but a citrus type of zip that evens out the odd dullness of the yeast.

I'd have it again. I'm not a huge fan of oranges even in Belgians, but I bet it would make this one even better.