SKA Diff

Brewed by SKA Brewing
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Durango, Colorado USA

Crushed with Jakebra at the Colorado Springs Saison Festival. Cool brew. Earthy, citrusy nose. Flavor is funky, yeasty, with definite wit and saison notes throughout. Dug it.

(22oz. bottle) Pours a hazy yellow body with a small white head. Aroma of wheat, clove, coriander, orange peel, and lemon. Flavor of lemon, wheat, mild hops (grassy) and coriander.

Bomber poured a hazy golden amber with a small lingering off white head. Aromas of wheat, yeast, citrus and light spice. Palate was light bodied and smooth. Flavors of wheat, lemon and light spice with a smooth lingering bitter finish.

i didn’t catch any of the durango film festival’s star-studded soire´s, so i’m glad i was able to sit down and take in a leisurely review of it’s "official" beer. other producers might have balked at bringing to the bottle a genre so little known to american audiences-- a wit-- so i give two thumbs up to ska brewing for the boldness to explore this controversial beer with such unflinching frankness. thought to be loosely based on the novel by pierre celis, this adaptation has heard complaints by some critics that it’s "prettier" than it should be; that is: it’s casting of sexy deep orange hues to star in the appearance is a nod to contemporary tastes. it might have been thought that the sickly pallor of traditional wits would turn off fickle domestic viewers. to appease the purists however, cinematically it is indeed authentically cloudy and moreover sports a ermine crown so ostentatious that mae west could have worn it as a foamy boa to the 1940 oscars. the opening aroma is pastoral, set in a slightly dusty wheat field, when suddenly a group of oranges bursts onto the scene. there is a scuffle among the woody spices to win the heart of the honied malt. what might have been bedlam with notes of band-aid, bay rum and clove, in fact turns into a playful romp. when the curtain then comes up on the second act we find the flavor-- in a very robert altmannesque way-- merging apparently different voices to establish a very entertaining continuity. without giving too much away, let it be said that the lightness of body is key in the plot, but at the same time that there is a film-noir kind of tension in the bitterness captured by the method-acting of the coriander, and that basement floor mustiness so ably dramatized by the yeast. so, finally, is it low alcohol family-friendly fluff and a feel-good crowd pleaser, or could it be a summer block buster of big box office receipts? as long as it works, this critic asks: what’s the diff? .