Session # 91

After the haterade that was Session 90, we have moved on to a wide open discussion on Belgian beers for Session 91.

The topic comes to us via our host, Belgian Smaak.

Many of the suggested writing prompts piqued my interest but I thought I would just take a chance and see what Belgian beer I first rated on Ratebeer.

And I found it within five ticks, Golden Valley French Prairie Blanche. A witbier brewed in my ol’ college town of McMinnville (Go Wildcats!). Sure a saison from Portland favorite Upright followed soon after and the requisite Bruery beers were there in the early days of craft beer fandom. But what some may call a starter Belgian was the first for me.

My brief thoughts back in 2009 were as follows, “Nice spice smell on this one. Possibly a little too dark for a wit. The taste is spot on. Light with many different notes.” I gave it a score of 3.8 out of 5.0.

Nowadays, I am more apt to drink a tripel or an American tinged Saison then I am to have a Witbier. But the wit style, along with the German Hefeweizen have flavor profiles that I can easily identify and enjoy. The coriander from one and the clove of the other are familiar guideposts to lean on.

Whereas a Belgian Strong ale may be too heavy on the palate or a Belgian IPA may be tilted too far towards yeast in one direction or hops to the other. The simpler Wit along with the Belgian single seem to always work, if I can generalize.

And I say that after participating in a Wit Bier tasting.