Alaskan White Ale

Brewed by Alaskan Brewing Co
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Juneau, Alaska USA

Bottle. Pours clear yellow with an average, frothy, white head, lasting with good lacing. Aroma is average malt (bread, cookie), average hop (flowers, orange), average yeast (dough) with notes coriander, apple, pear, and banana. Light bodied, sticky texture, lively carbonation, and a chalky finish. Average duration, light sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

Lightly hazed, light golden liquid. Tallish off-white head that is rather stable. Big orange peel and coriander aromas. JUst a hint of pale malt in the background. Head has settled to an tin dense lid and some lace. Light fruit in the start with a bit of peach. Citrus works its way into the middle. Some light honey and herbal qualities in the finish. Linger is fairly dry. with some dry weeds and spice. Not enough wheat/malt presence for me in this one.

Had at the summit Brewfest & BBQ on 5/16/09. Color is golden with no haze. Carbonation is good with a small white head. Aroma is spicy with a fruity back tone. Taste is light and fruity. Starting with a light body it goes down easy with a fizzy feel. Finish is sweet with a bubble gum fruit taste. Overall I don’t like it much, it has no white character and just seems like a pilsner with bubble gum flavoring.

Pours tawny yellow w/ tall, lasting head. Mildy spiced and malty aromatics play into this brew nicely. Medium full nectar w/ good carbonation. Malty and mildly spiced w/ a brisk tropical tartness that tingles on the finish. Theres an earthiness about it.

Another bottle shared by Skyview. Clear golden pour with a medium head. Aroma and flavor both dominated by orange peel and coriander. Light, tasty and very refreshing. Perfect summer beer!

Picked up a single 12-oz bottle from internet sale through Malt and Vine in Washington. Pours a clear golden amber colored brew with an average sized off-white head that slowly dissipates to a thin ring. Aroma of corinader, golden grain malt with a hint o fruit and orange peel. Taste is medium bodied, some carbonation with flavors of golden grain malt, some wheat, coriander, orange zest and a touch of yeast. Finish is crisp, clean cut with some light orange peel aftertaste.

22. Pours a crystal clear light gold with a towering, fluffed platinum blonde head. Decent little fingers of lace. Nice spicy, yeasty, slightly alcoholic nose. Body’s light, and the carbonation really is sparkling enough to give it a bit of crispness. Truth in packaging! Phew. Spicy, yeasty, slightly corny mid-palate. Mild yeasty finish. Not bad; drinkable and refreshing for sure. Pretty cool label, too.

I had never seen the Alaskan White on the shelves before, but quickly jumped at the opportunity. My brief time living in Seattle has taught me that, at least as far as the beers from Alaskan Brewery that find there way into 750ml homes, things will be tasty. The Smoked Porter 2008 is especially indicative. Plus, at $2.99 I was curious to see if even a moderately well made white beer could be made at that price point. Well, I’ll come out with it - I’m blown away. Let me preface the following stream of compliments by saying this is NOT the best white I have ever had. It’s good. Very good. But at that price? It goes from good to baffling. “What did I do to deserve this?” It pours from the bottle unassumingly, nary kicking up a head, settling comfortably into a orange-tinged gold puddle. The aroma was my first hint that this was special something - butterscotch, caramel, banana cream and honey like an ornately sweetened tripel. Like a good scenic view off the highway, this is worth stopping and enjoying. The flavor is, perhaps thankfully, not so sweet. Instead it is light and graceful, a ballet of wheat, pirouetting with white grape, a slight leap of cantaloupe, a bow of honeydew and then suddenly it vanishes. The flavor vanishes so quickly that it leaves the confused carbonation in it’s wake, all dressed up and nowhere to go. I love this flavor, but wish it would stick around for a little while, but I suppose a beer this good has other places to be.