Samuel Adams Imperial White Ale

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

12 oz. bottle. Pours a cloudy yellowish brown. Nice off white head. Looks highly carbonated. Wheat, yeast, orange and spice in the nose. The carbonation isn’t as aggressive as I thought it might be. It has a creamy mouthfeel. Tastes of gingerbread, alcohol, and some candy sweetness. Some lemon/coriander is lurking in there too. Sticky mouthfeel in the finish with the candy lingering a bit too long. Too sweet and not in very good balance.

Cloudy orange in color with an average sized off-white head. Aroma is heavy in banana with notes of caramelized sugar and light citrus. Taste is of citrus with light banana notes, yeast and a little honey. The alcohol burn kinda sneaks up on you and in the finish dominates the palate with a hint of a caramel and yeasty aftertaste.

Pours a hazy amber golden with a small, frothy white head. Aroma of sweet biscuity malt and some mild coriander spice with a touch of European hops. Body starts with good fullness and rich sweet malty character which overshadows most of the orange rind and coriander before a slightly drier finish. Needs more spice character to be more of a witbier, but still a pretty interesting and drinkable beer, which hides its alcohol well.

In the bottle at the 2009 Crescent Moon Extreme Beerfest. Pours cloudy dark gold with a white head. Mild candy aroma. Lots of orange juice flavors. Acidic palate. This is a breakfast beer!

Pours a hazy amber color with a solid white head. There was n aroma of spices such as coriander and orange peel. The flavor was sweet with an obvious high alcohol content. This was a very good beer considering I am not typically a fan of White beers.

Pours a mostly clear, orangey-cooper color with a moderately full, off-white, creamy head which is mostly diminishing and leaves minimal frothy lace. Nose is sweet for the style with lots of honeyed sweet breads and clove, light banana peel yeast esters, faint wheat notes, and only hints at orange peel. Flavor is unquestionably sweet, especially for the style; lots of sweet caramel, clove, some honeyed wheat bread, banana estery yeast, candi sugar, and hints at muscat grapes and orange peel. Palate is thick, creamy, slightly warming, lively, and medium. Finishes with a touch of alcohol warmth still there, mostly sweet, but a small floral bitterness also; other notes of clove, white grapes, and coriander. To me, this is more like a wit-inspired, weizen dopplebock; lots if residual sweetness, a malt emphasis, and at 10+%. Only a small orange and coriander presence underneath so much clove and caramel sweet notes. Overall, it is a decent beer but not really like an imperial wit.

Bottle. Poured a amberish color. Smelled spicey and yeast. Taste of a big big wit lots of spice, too much spice.

Thanks be to thee, dm9831, Oh munificent one. Pours a tad hazy amber with white head. Nose is yeasty, alcoholic and possesses a spicy reek and big banana...or was that dm9831? Flavors of coriander and orange peel, caramel/toffee, grassiness, and banana. Big, obvious, over-the-top alcohol as well. I really liked this effort from SA, and would definitely seek this brew out again and again, despite it’s having nothing to do with a "wit" beer!