Samuel Adams Imperial White Ale

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

$2.49 12oz bottle from PP bottle shop. 4/28/09 A chance to vent about beer pricing: Thank you San Adams and finally a reasonably priced good beer in the current insane state of the overpriced beer market. In and out of beer stores, over and over again, leaving with nothing in my hand. It seems the $4.99 Blind Pig is often the cheapest thing in the store...so I wait and lurk and look... and opt out for the $1 samples next door, or the $6 pizza + salad + pint...a much more reasonable deal. On the plus side, my interest in home brew is taking off, especially with $1/lb 2-row at home brew mart. I’m starting to do a series of experiments by fermenting in growlers. I can make a growler of Berliner Weisse for about $1. Look out Sam Adams! There are even cheaper alternatives. Anywho...about the beer. Yellow amber color. Sweet. Thick body. Easy to drink. Kind of like a good triple but with a neutral yeast instead of Belgian yeast. Aaah. Mmmm. good.

Pours a cloudy burnt orange with a tight beige head. Aroma of sweet spices, some dark fruit, and a little Belgian yeast too. Bright flavor of sweet malt, a touch of orange upfront, which fades into a soft, yeastyness with a hint of mellow spices. Alcohol isn’t very noticeable at all, surprisingly. This brew is really quite good. Would probably have a higher rating if there were an American Belgian category.

Very strong sweet beer. flavors of orange peel, wheat, spice, coriander and coying sweetness. Alcohol in the finish. It’s alright, interesting.

12 oz bottle from Bev4less. Pours a murky copper color with a small fine white head that has fair retention. The aroma is bold with sweet ripe bananas, pears and peaches. The taste is similar to the nose with ripe fruits playing a leading role, the banana and pears are very pronounced, and I get some orange; in addition there is also biscuit sweetened with honey and a trace of spice. The finish is long and sweeet. The mouthfeel is full and malty with lively carbonation. Overall: A very good witbier, perhaps my favorite San Adams to date.

Bottle. Pours an orangish amber with a small, lacey white head. The aroma is sweet, sugary, fruity, some spice as the description says. all notes of a traditional wit. Upon tasting, the difference is evident. There is a warm alcoholic quality from start to finish. The flavors are all amplified. It starts fruity, but is a mix of ripe sweet fruits like plums and nectarines mixes with the traditional citrus orange. The middle is spicy, with the alcohol becoming more evident. The finish is sweet, somewhat cloying, and very warm, spicy and fiery.

Has slightly sweet aroma and smells very clean. Has little white head and pours hazy amber. I don’t usually care for wheats and this has decent complexity without a harsh finish. Well done to the boston beer company.

12oz bottle. Pours a cloudy reddish/brownish orange with a medium-thin white head that leaves light tendrils of lace. The aroma is very malty with subtle spices (pepper and coriander). The flavor starts sweet and malty with some light wheat flavors and subtle flowery hop flavors. At mid-palate, there is a grainy, toasty, bready, caramel-sweet quality to the malts as well as grassy hop flavors with subtle citrus. The finish is full with subtle dryness. The dominant taste in the finish is, unfortunately, ethanol. It doesn’t burn, but it is warming as it goes down and tastes distinctly like alcohol with some flowery bittersweet hops and malts. The mouthfeel is thick and very full - almost cloying - with a pleasant level of carbonation that is spritzy (but unfortunately seems to accentuate the ethanol flavor in the finish). Overall, a very mediocre brew. It is not particularly well balanced, and it does not really resemble a witbier. It needs a lot more wheat flavor, more citrus and coriander, and more attenuation.

12oz bottle. Orange with a lacy white head. Alcoholic, citric, sugary, and spicy aroma. The flavor is hot and alcoholic with plenty of orange sweetness and a bit of spicy balance. Pretty heavy and sticky. Very similar in profile to their already too sweet white ale but with even more sweetness and a ton more alcohol, which doesn’t work at all here. I couldn’t even finish this.