Mendocino Summer Ale

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Hopland, California USA

It was an OK American Wheat. Mild Orange aroma. Strong lemon flavor. Don’t think I’ll try this one again.

Pours pale hazy yellow with a small white head. the aroma has smooth orange, light coriander and rich wheat. Medium bodied beer with fairly sharp carbonation. Taste has light orange and spice that are wit-like. The rich wheat taste and carbonation are more like an American wheat. The finish is much more like an American wheat with grainy wheat and a bit of spice. Nice refreshing summer beer.

Cloudy orange color with a medium white head. Sweet yeasty banana aroma. Spiced light banana flavor.

Good example of a wheat beer. Light/medium bodied, goes down very smoothly. Spicy character in the finish.

Poured cloudy white-yellow with tons of sediment that was uniformly suspended top to bottom for the duration of the drink (pretty cool, actually). If it weren’t for the lame initial head that turned into nothing and then failed to lace, my appearance score would have been higher. The aroma was somewhat barn-like with some citrus / orange coming through. The flavor was pretty comparable to what Sammy did with their summer ale, but this one was more strongly lemon-orange flavored and more heavily spiced with a ginger and coriander type twist. The mouthfeel was pretty light (summer seasonal) and rather carbonated. A hay-like American wheat flavor was prominent in the malty base.

12 oz bottle. Unfiltered. Hazy golden-yellow color with thin white head. Light yeasty aroma with distinct bread-dough note and a touch of orange and coriander cowering in the background. Flavors are similar, but a bit more balanced than the aroma. Tart finish.

In the bottle. Pours a colloidal gold with a fine white head of little resolve. Aroma is lemon-fresh like a dishwasher detergent. The flavor finishes with a coriander and lemon tartness. has poor lacing. The beer is very pretty in a schooner glass while watching the carbonation bubbles going up and the flocculent yeast particles churning and dropping. Clove and banana esters up front in a big way.

This isn’t a bad witbier, it just lacks some of the oomph that the better ones have. A cloudy, but pald brownish gold with a small, short-lived head. The aroma is well-spiced. Good coriander. Forward citrus. The body is a little watery for the style. Not bad, but I’ve got other wits I’d rather reach for.