Belgian Witte
Tun Tavern

 

Resting in the glass, it's the color of orange marmalade. Perhaps slightly more yellow, at least along the sides of the glass, but without question orangeish at the middle. Fine bubbles rise steadily, as with purpose, towards the surface. They fall in line beneath the others that have already made their way up to form a thin cap of bright white. Eventually the frothy lid erodes to a not much more than a thin collar and whispy surface covering, but as you sip it leaves walls of tiny spots behind on the glass. The nose harkens back to the orange marmalade previously noted in the appearance, and it's sweetish, a bit lemony as well, and just lightly spicy enough to tickle the olfactory sense. The coriander is noted, and there's a hint of black pepper as well. Lots of juicy, semi-sweet and tart lemon! In the mouth it's crisp and medium-light bodied, but with a little more girth than might be expected, probably due the residual yeast (it's either unfiltered, or just lightly filtered to remove the larger particulate... I'm guessing the former). The flavor reflects the aroma, but with a bit less lemon and more orange. And of course it's fuller and rounder. Very nicely balanced! There's an edge of sweetish and wheaty malt upfront - almost immediately balanced by the citrus character and a flicker of tartness - and then offset by it's refined spice (again, coriander and black pepper) and very moderate bitterness. A thread of hop flavor is present as well, at low level, but lending depth of character. It finishes drying with a swirl of spice and just a mild suggestion of chalky yeastiness (or is that citrus rind?). Overall, a very impressive take on the style!!! There are witbiers out of Belgium that don't even come close to the roundness present here - although it should be noted that this is slightly bigger, and certainly a bit stronger. Well worth trying, and for fans of the style, probably worth seeking out if you're in the area.

This one was sampled from a growler that was freshly filled only a few hours earlier.

Pours a very nice, murky, muted golden colour with a slightly above average sized white head that has a bit of frothiness to it. Retention is normal and stickiness is about the same. Still, this one just looks real good.

The aroma has a nice but simple blend of citrus (lemon and orange), wheat and a bit of spice. There's a good bit of candy sweetness here as well.

Flavour hits on the goodness and simplicity of the aroma. Citrus all the way through, with possibly some banana in the mix as well, along with the candy sweetness noted in the aroma. Wheat kicks in about midway and holds for the rest of each sip, and the spice really shine at the finish of each sip with a nice kick each time. Mouthfeel is not bad but seemed a bit flat at times to me.

I liked this one overall. This is, I believe, the first of their new brewer's own beers to be thrown into rotation (he still brews some of Ted's recipes as well) and it was a nice one to put out there. If future brews are like this one, the Tun should get back into a nice groove once again real soon.