Samuel Adams Imperial White Ale

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

Pours from the 12 oz bottle an orangish-amber with a thick foamy head that settles into a heavy collar. There’s an almost macro like fizziness...LOTSA bubbles rising to the top. Aroma is wonderful, a mixture of fruit (orange & banana) and a caramel/toffee note. The flavor is big, bold and wonderful as well. I pick up hints of the aforementioned fruit plus the caramel/toffee, plus a bubblegum like sweetness. The alcohol is present and gets more noticeable as the beer warms, but doesn’t take away from the experience. The mouthfeel is quite substansial...this is a thick, almost chewy beer. Overall, a big, bold, BEAUTIFUL beer from Jim Koch & the crew at Boston Beer Company!! This is top notch stuff, and I hope there’s more on the shelves when I make my next beer run!!!

Not sure why the hell someone would decide to make a beer like this. Big, chewy bread backbone. Strong syrup sweetness with big caramel notes. Lots of fruit, namely plum and raisin, but funked orange peel and some sour apples. The spice is there but totally overpowered by the retarded malt backbone.

12 oz. bottle from Total Wine. Pours dark orange with a white head. Much darker than a normal Witbier. Aroma of yeast, orange and honey. Taste is way too sweet, and almost syrupy in mouthfeel. Even if you throw the idea of a Witbier out the window this doesn’t translate well as any style Belgian. I do get some of the orange and coriander notes but this is just too damn sweet.

orange colored amber brown with a small off white to tannish head. this smells and tastes like grainy sunny d... or sugar coated orange and coriander flavored cereal. full bodied and syrupy with a sticky cloying mouth feel. hey, some people eat bugs... 4/3/4/2/8/2.1

This is weird. Pours a reddish-amber color with a thin head and hardly any retention at all. A spot of lace here and there but very minimal. The aroma, well, there’s just not much there, especially for something that’s this strong. A cherry, vinegar scent I guess. This tastes very much like an amped up version of their Cherry Wheat. Once I got past that this is nothing at all like I thought it would be with hardly any Wit characteristics and started treating it like a cognac or brandy it wasn’t too bad. As I’m drinking this, tasting the cherry, coriander, a big alcohol bite, I’m thinking there’s no way I should like this, but strangely I kind of did like it. A guilty pleasure indeed. Very soothing and warming. Sweet and syrupy. I’m not sure what the heck style this is or how I should rate it because as far as Wits, or Imperial Wits, this fails. 12 ounces is a bit of a chore. I’m not sure if this was Sam Adam’s intention or not but it did get me thinking. Scores all over the place.

12oz bottle from HEB on May 9, 2009. Orange-amber color with a fine head. Sweet aroma, almost sour. Nearly creamy body with a dominant sourness and light sweetness. Syrupy. Finish is of spice, coriander, perhaps anise.

courtesy of Laurent Mousson (WBA) - cloudy reddish-amber colour with a persistent slightly beige foam; aroma of matured bananas and solvant; full-bodied and sticky, very sweet, heavy mouthfeel, tons of cinnamon in an heavy banana finish with notes of alcohol - quite cloying

Cloudy orange pour. Strong hops and citrus aroma. Flavor is much the same with a sweet malt front and hops and alcohol finish. Overall I thought it was really good.