Woody Creek White

Woody Creek WhiteWoody Creek White is Flying Dog’s new summer seasonal, the one they held a contest to name, and I was fortunate enough to receive a bottle from the brewery to review. It’s a Belgian Wit style of beer (commonly known as a "white ale"), a pale wheat beer brewed in typical Belgian fashion with (among other ingredients) orange peel and coriander. It’s a tasty style of beer, and I expected no less from Flying Dog, and I wasn’t disappointed. Plus, at 4.8% alcohol (their site says 4.7%), this is quite a sessionable beer and a good summer seasonal choice.

Appearance: Pale yellow—very—straw colored… hazy. Very white fluffy head piles up. Nice appearance, about as "white" as a wheat beer’s gonna get.

Smell: Orange, coriander—heavier on the coriander—very refreshing and fresh-smelling. Fresh cut grass, citrus blossoms, lemongrass.

Taste: Crisp and tangy, with a bracing edge of wheat—raw wheat—and light and fruity with a hint of citrus. Bitter from orange peel, I’m guessing. Spicy and sour, but not sharp. Light orange.

Mouthfeel: Fresh, crisp, light in body but with a nice "cloudy haze" feel to it. Refreshing.

Overall: Makes me want to sit on the deck with a glass of it while the cicadas sing. By my judgment (not that I’ve had that many witbiers), it’s a good wit.

On BeerAdvocate, there are only three reviews so far, no enough for an overall score, but those three average 3.92 out of 5, with all of the reviewers approving. On RateBeer, it’s pretty much the same story, with two reviews averaging 3.45 out of 5.