Whit Pig
The Mussel Inn

Tried on-tap at the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst during the Kiwi SpecTapular.

Pours a hazed, deep golden colour, with a fine film of head on the top. Lacing is pretty decent, forming thick patterns down the glass. Very fine carbonation, and an extremely languid bead. Looks great.

Nose is unique and very exciting. Fresh sweet citrus characters blend juicily with a vanilla orchid note and a pungent character of lavender. It's a weird combination, but gorgeously unique, and it works beautifully.

Milder on the palate, but with very similar characteristics. Fresh vanilla, smooth but buoyant floral notes, limey citrus and sweet pastry. Only a light body to support it, but these are all rather subtle flavours. It's smooth and fresh. Lovely.

A great brew, and a stylistically challenging, but very flavoursome witbier. I look forward to trying others from the Mussel Inn.

Pours a pale gold colour with a light haze. Head is dense, off-white, nice retention with sticky lace. Looking good.

Smell is very curious. Very, very woody with a real sawdust aroma, largely just fresh pine furniture, resin and sap. Slight tart Belgian spice lingering at the back. Very nice and interesting.

Taste is slightly less successful. Starts tart with floral notes, then develops that woody sawdust character that is actually very sweet on the back, with a reall sharp resinous note to the finish. Not bad, but could use more Belgian character, as the wood and consequent sweetness tend to dominate a bit too much.

Feel is sparkly, quite full. A bit dry on the back; decent.

Yeah, a great attempt at an odd beer. Not entirely successful, but I'm very happy to have drunk it.