Sterkens White Ale

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Belgian White (Witbier)
Cooperstown, New York USA

Serve in Tumbler, Weizen

12oz bottle. Pours a hazy, yellowish-white color; white head with patchy lacing. Clove, banana, and spice in the aroma; slightly watery. Medium mouthfeel: lively carbonation; banana, bread, cloves, and yeast; still somewhat watery and light, but very drinkable. Medium, banana and lemon finish.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of a Reuben sandwich. Smells like pastrami, salami, mustard, and kraut. Also a little spicy. Poured a light golden color, with a medium, white head that diminished quickly. Kinda looks like urine. Hazy. Sparkling. Flavor is very bland. Slightly bitter but not sweet or sour. Tastes lightly of malt, coriander, clove, and lemon. Light to medium body. Oily texture. Lively carbonation. Short finish. Overall, very little flavor, but pretty easy to drink.

UPDATED: AUG 25, 2008 poured from an 11.2 oz bottle into a weizen glass. a: pours a pale yellow, almost off-white color with TONS of suspended sediment. almost a scary amount! (i thought about not drinking it) small head, dissipates extremely quickly. sm: lemony, orangey. yeast and wheat. taste: very very mild! tastes kind of soapy. there is some lemony flavor to it. mf: it’s very smooth. after i swallow, the spice runs up my tongue from the back and bites me on the tip of the tongue. drinkability: rather easy to drink, except that it lacks SO much, that i will not try another. I can’t think of any time that i would rather have this beer than something else. overall: i actually didn’t even finish it! i got 65% of it down before i got sick of drinking it. i’ll probably avoid it in the future.

Pours a hazy straw color with a fair amount of suspended yeast. Just under an inch of white head, very small bubbles. Head fades away quickly to a ring of tightly packed bubbles. Good spider-web lacing in my pint glass. Honey and faint spice and yeast in the aroma. Bready malt that is actually bolder than I expected. Some lemon zest in there, not much spice. Another odd taste in there too - I can only describe it as subtly soapy, but that makes it sound bad. This isn’t bad, per se, just different. Maybe its lemongrass. Softly carbonated, light on the palate and very little aftertaste. Pleasantly surprised this time, but would not be surprised if I don’t like the next one. Go figure. EDIT: Note to self... that lemongrass soapiness or whatever it is lingers way too long after the glass is drained. Not nice.

Very pale - exceptionally clear for a witbier - with a thin white head. The aroma was thick with wheat but also very heavy with orange peel. The flavor was crisp on the tongue from carbonation, a bit sweet from malts and strong with bitter orange peel - wheat and coriander also apparent. The flavor of yeast joins the oranges around the middle of the tongue. There was very little hop presence, and the beer finished crisp and dry - quite quenching, actually. The mouthfeel is very thin and also quite carbonated. Overall, it is good, but is a little thin in the body.

Pours very pale yellow with a fully receding white head. Aroma of orange peel, chamomile, and coriander. Taste is of chamomile and orange peel. Mouthfeel is light bodied and spritzy. Over spiced, but still slightly refreshing.

Cloudy light straw color with a foamy white head. Simple citric nose. Sweet pale malt flavor start. Slightly citric with little else. Finishes smooth.

Not too much going on here. Lacks a little of everything... clearly not Belgiums finest but, perhaps, on the other end. One would do better with just about any other White ale.