Shock Top Belgian White

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
St. Louis, Missouri USA

Draft at a local Irish bar. I think this beer is much better than the ratings reflect. It pours a hazy golden color typical of wheat beer, and the aroma is smooth and citrusy. However, the palate is outstanding and the flavor is very full but not too overpowering. Some wheat beers/belgian whites can have a tart taste to them or end up tasting like old orange juice but this beer had a very smooth and full taste. Finish is clean and crisp. Hats off for the first time to AB.

Poured from the bottle an opaque yellow-orange with the typical A-B thin, quickly-dissipating head. Noticeably more carbonated and watery than is typical for the style (again, typical of A-B brews.) A strong and appetizing orange and spice aroma. Taste is pretty good, although it lacks the more yeasty elements you’d expect in the style. Highly citrus tasting and semi-tart, it finishes pretty clean and is actually pretty refreshing. Wife and daughters liked it better than I did -- but by no means a bad change of pace drink, especially, I’d think, in the summer.

Hazy orange with a small off white head. Appearance not too bad. Aroma is a bit weird- has coriander, orange peel and it gets a bit soapy. Taste isn’t terrible, but not very good. Alot of orange peel and spice, touches of soap, with a very small amount of belgian yeast- nowhere near yeasty enough. Body is quite watery. Finish has some lingering coriander, and alot of bitter orange peel- becomes a bit abrasive. Could use more malt/wheat body and complexity, as well as more traditional wit beer yeast qualities. For AB though, this isn’t all that bad.

bottle from Sam’s. Served in my Wieckse Witte glass. Poirs a cloudy golden with a small, white, lace that kind of sucks. I’m not just knocking this beer’s appearance cause its AB, I just care about appearance and this one sucks. Nose has some citrus, coriander, clove, and some other spices. And now that I see it in other reviews, a little fruit loops. Flavor is piss poor for the style and lacks any belgian yeasty taste that defines many of the beers in this style. very one-dimensional and orange water flavored. More drinkable than many AB products I have consumed, but I would rather have a Blue Moon over this and I don’t like Blue Moon. Why did I pay money for this? Am I losing it?

12 ounce bottle from City Market in Burlington, VT (February 2008), served at cellar temperature from a Duvel glass. The thick pure-white head fills half of the part of the glass not taken up by the opaque golden liquid; it doesn’t lace at all and decays quickly....pale/pils malts evident in the nose, hint of spicing, not unpleasant but nothing to get excited about either.....on the tongue, reasonably close to what it’s mimicing, with a decent blend of sweet-tart orange and sourdough characteristics, a bit of coriander, perhaps a touch of ginger....too sweet, a bit too strongly carbonated and too thin and watery, but really quite drinkable and not in the least offensive; might be A-B’s best beer now, certainly the first one I can remember thinking that I actually wouldn’t mind drinking again. For free, anyway.

Nowhere near enough aroma for a beer that claims to be a witbier. It has a candy like quality to the fruit notes that doesn’t make me think "Belgian White" as much as "beer-soaked Froot Loops". The carbonation is too lively. Seltzer with beer and children’s cereal added is how I’d sum up this beer.

Pours cloudy yellow with tall white head. Some citrus and spice aroma. Flavors are orange, coriander, and generic malt. Pretty thin and weak overall. Reminds me of Blue Moon, but even more watered down.

Mild banana clove nose with some yeast notes. This nose was very mild and almost hard to find in the bar I was in. A hazy honey golden color. Tastes of corriander, spices, and sweetness. Not a whole lot of complexity or strength of flavors. Really sweet and mild. (After I finished this rating at the bar, I asked who made this and was informed it was an Anheuser-Busch product. No surprise.)