Samuel Adams Imperial White Ale

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Poured a cloudy copper color with a nice looking creamy white to off-white head that was persistent and created decent lacing. The aroma was nice at first. A fresh mix of banana and wheat that led into some light citrus, yeast and peppery spice. The flavor was a bit muddled, each sip seeming to offer something different, none of the flavors being that great. I got peppery spice and citrus with wheat and floral notes. The mouthfeel light to medium in body with some alcohol warming. Weird.

Style; glass: Belgian Strong Ale; Trappist 12 fl oz x 10.3% ABV = 123.6 / 60 = 2.06 beers * 150 C = 309 calories (est.) Purchased at: Canal’s Lawrenceville, NJ for $2.50 Aroma: nice, coriander, syrup, honeysuckle, cardamom, curry. Visuals: classic packaging, deep orange body, thick, long lasting white head, sticky intricate lace. Taste: unbalanced, cloyingly sweet, a bit overpowering, with some chemical notes, though after the initial shock, fruit, nuances of layering in peach and apple, and earthy flavors emerge. Palate: creamy, with a choclatey sweet finish, some sourness remains. Overall: A nice effort by Boston, but they’re out of their league vs. Trappists. I’d have it again, if the price was a bit cheaper.

Pours hazy light orange; aroma full of cloves with some orange, sweet accents; taste a little heavy and syrupy on the mouthfeel; overall not quite what I was expecting w/ the hype.

Clear golden orange with a fizzy white head. Sweet cereal aroma. Full bodied sweet orange and caramel taste.

Bottle... Hazy golden ale with a small, frothy, white head that collapses upon itself until it becomes a permanent, creamy cap. The nose is quite subtle, but does provide notes of vanilla, ethanol and some odd, herbal fragrances. Full-bodied and very creamy with soft carbonation. Mainly, the flavor and finish are sweet and just a touch boozy/warming – there’s a little vanilla and toffee. I didn’t really pick up any of the common wit esters or phenols, but I don’t tend to enjoy them anyway.

I knew this was going to be a mess as soon as I poured it… a (Double WHITE) that is a medium hue of AMBER in color? Cloyingly sweet with a syrupy palate. All the flavors are muddled and show almost NO resemblance to any relation of a Witbier, literally nothing but the Belgian yeast, and coriander spice. This is really a disaster! DeProef Grande Blanch or Southamption Double White should have been sampled in Boston before this was ever released. 4 sips in and your drain pour. Man, I really wanted to like this, totally bummed!

Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is hazy light to medium amber. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), with very strong notes of coriander and orange soda, note of plastic. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium body, syrupy texture, lively/soft carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic. Absolutely ridiculous. WAY over the top with coriander and orange flavoring, and WAY too sweet. Pretty much undrinkable.

Bottle from City Beer Store in SF. Orangish-amber color (not even close to white), with a head that’s not even white. Aroma of wheat, yeast, caramel, and spices. Flavor is more of the same with orange/citrus and the booze asserting itself. Palate is smooth and medium-full but a bit boozy. My girlfriend thought it tasted similar to Sam Double Bock and a Nut Brown Ale. Then I publicly bemoaned the fact that I wasted such good beer on her uncultured palate and forced her to drink nothing but Bud Light Chelada the rest of the night. Just kidding, I didn’t do that (gotcha!), but she did make that comment.