Review: Imperial White

Imperial While is from Samuel Adams' sort-of new Imperial Series. They're brewing four bigger beers year-round and selling them in four-packs.* The beers are: Imperial White, Imperial Stout and Double Bock. They also make a seasonal Imperial Pilsner, though they don't consider it part of the Imperial Series. All of these are very good beers and are some of SA's best. I'll post reviews of the other beers in the future.

I bought this four-pack at the Publix on University Parkway in southern Manatee County. That Publix has one of the grocery chain's best beer selections.

Check out this post for background on witbiers, or wheat beers. Basically, they are like German wheat beers -- meaning they are brewed with wheat as well as barley malt -- but also have coriander, orange peel and other spices added.

The review

It pours a cloudy copper in color after swirling the final ounces in the bottle. The head is thick, but not huge. It has a light banana and clove aroma, which are aromas typical of this style of beer.

The taste is very good. Big spice flavors like clove mix with sweet malt flavors and yeasty notes to make a super wheat beer. It's like a hefeweizen, but jacked up. The high alcohol is quite noticeable in the fusel flavors.

The body is also great: Smooth and creamy and slick.

This is a very good beer and one of Samuel Adams' best. I highly recommend it. Seek it out.

*Each four-pack sells for about $10, which is fine except that SA used to sell their Double Bock for the same price as their regular beer (about $7) in six-packs back when they only brewed Double Bock seasonally. Dollar, dollar bill, ya'll.