Brew Review - Avery White Rascal

Nearly half a year ago when I began this long voyage of sampling beers, I never thought that I would come to love a wheat beer. It took a trip to Michigan and an offer to try something new to make me change my mind. Since then, my view of wheat beers have changed enough that I now enjoy them. I had already made my beer run for the week but was out picking up a movie rental and stopped in to the beer store next door and saw this 6-pack of Avery Brewing Company's belgian-style wheat ale named White Rascal and decided to add it to my mix for the weekend. This style of beer is also known as a Witbier (or white beer) as it pours a cloudy white with pale yellow overtones. Wheat beers typically are unfiltered and still have yeast floating around in it. This beer yielded a nice bright white head with a delicate lingering lace. Just what I'd expect a beer like this to have. Now I'm not one to garnish a beer like this with fruit so I let the beer do it's own talking without any added flavor.

This beer is spiced with a trace of coriander and Curaco orange peel which give it a nice fruity yet hoppy aroma. Avery put in just one hop into this beer - the Czech Saaz hop. The Saaz along with the Belgian wheat and 2-row barley give this a very distinctive aroma that matches the style perfectly. This beer drinks well cold. The taste is highly refreshing and would go well chilled on a hot day or inside with a meal. I chose to drink this along with an oriental chicken and rice dish. It seemed to go along with it well. This beer has a slightly tart taste at the end to blend with the wheatiness of the brew. This time, the spices were not overpowering like a holiday winter ale can be. Even the remaining yeast in this beer adds to the flavor as the brewer recommends saving a little bit in the bottle, swirling it and then adding it to the top of your beer for more flavor. This beer would perhaps go well with an orange slice garnish, but I was too lazy to go out and buy fruit. Some things I just won't do (yet).

This is a moderate alcohol beer at 5.6% ABV and a very low bitterness with an IBU of 10. It drinks easy and would be one you could have several of in a sitting. It would be best drank on a comfortable couch after a meal while you watched a movie. I happened to watch Beowulf with this beer. Funny thing was that Beowulf liked to drink mead and not beer, but that's his loss. I'll stick to beer thank you.

I'm glad that someone had introduced me to the Belgian wheat style under the right conditions. Otherwise, I may have never picked one up again. My first experience with a wheat beer was with a warm highly hopped version. I did not want to finish it at the time. I was not prepared for that taste, but now that I know what to expect and I've tasted it at a better temperature (cooler) I really enjoy it.

BeerAdvocate gave this witbier a good rating of "B". Ratebeer was a bit more subdued and put it in the 63rd percentile and a 3.22/5 rating. This was an easy wheat to drink and is similar in quality to one I had recently at the Fort Collins Brewery although I admit I liked the one at FCB slightly better. Still, it's worth enough to buy again. I'll give this a 3.4 out of 5 rating. I think you'll enjoy this white little rascal.