Better Know a Beer Style: Belgian Wit

About a month from now, I'll be taking the SAT's of beer, the Beer Judge Certification Program exam. This involves learning maybe 70 styles of beer, along with a good share of brewing science. So in preparation for this test of beer geekery, I'm going to be focusing on a few styles and explaining the ideal and origins.

Belgian Wit
This 400 year old style had practically died out until it was revived in the 1950's by Pierre Celis (Celis White is quite tasty btw). This beer should smell somewhat sweet with light grains, spicy wheat, herbal hops, and be accompanied by spices like coriander, vanilla, or vanilla.

The appearance will be pale straw yellow, made hazy by the addition of the bottling yeast (intentionally not decanted). And the flavor will mirror the aroma with more spice and herbal flavors like orange zest and a low hop bitterness. There might also be a slightly tart and sour feel. But overall, this will be a light, crisp, and refreshing ale.

Wits are typically brewed with a 50/50 mix of unmalted wheat and a base malt like pilsner, but a 5-10% addition of oats isn't unheard of. Ground coriander and sweet orange peel are the most common spice additions, but chamomile, cumin, cinnamon, Grains of Paradise are also appropriate.

OG: 1.044 - 1.052
FG: 1.008 - 1.012
IBUs: 10 - 20
SRM: 2-4
ABV: 4.5-5.5%

Case Study: Blanche de Bruxelles

Best before date of "20081213" appear to indicate this has a 12 month shelf life. That's a little odd.

It starts out looking good with a cloudy, pale yellow body. The aroma, however, indicates this beer might have had some rough shipment with immediate skunk. That dissipated after 10 minutes to leave a sweet, bready aroma that carried over to the flavor. I'm surprised by this bready malt, because while it is Belgian by nature, it's not the normal light and crisp malt I'd expect from a wit. This beer comes off more like a light Belgian pale ale, and an unremarkable one at that.

Per style guidelines, we see this beer is really missing an obvious spice component. There was a fruity sweetness similar to orange peel, but nothing more. It also wasn't crisp or very refreshing.