Liquid Sun Belgian Wit Ale
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

seeing this liquid sun name for a bunch of different styles, but the denver location had the belgian wit version when we were in, and i think its a fine example of it, at least as the american made options go, nothing special, but well executed and professional, which is kind of what you always get with rock bottom beer, no complaints. blonde, straw colored, softly hazy, with a lot of big bubbled carbonation and an inch of airy white head resting on top, looks right for what it is. the nose is estery and familiar, lemony belgian yeast with some clove and orange notes, possibly made with coriander, i get some of that too, but its somewhat subtle overall, there is an airy lightness, a tidy cereal wheat thing, simple beer really, nothing out of place, light green grape and pear. the flavor is similar, definitely yeast driven, spicy up front, more citrus fruity later on, clove and white pepper, slightly dusty, seems like a yeast strain thats real common, and one that has been dealt with in a common way in this, but it works. the wheat gives it some body, its gentle feeling and well carbonated, and it warms up well, as good belgian beer generally does. a style i was a little hesitant to order here, not really what i think about when i think about this type of place, but it hit pretty well for me, and all the beers we had on this visit were quite solid.

Lots of people were trying this beer out, surprisingly. I wonder if they were trying it because it's light and yellow, or because they wanted a nice spicy witbier.

They served this beer to me with a presqueezed lemon wedge. I immediately pulled it out, but the lemon was already all over the beer -- more about this later. It was a cloudy pale yellow, with minimal white head. Real pale. No aroma at all, unless you count the lemon. The beer light and fizzy and you keep waiting for the taste. There is a mild wheat flavor, much less than in their Rye or Wheat ales. My tongue waited for the coriander and curacao. Nothing. After 8-10 seconds, a warm maltiness says hello on the tongue, but that's it. I put the lemon wedge back in to get some more flavor.

Grain bill: half pale malt, half wheat malt. Coriander and Curacao. Saaz. White labs #400 (interestingly, they didn't use the RB house yeast, and no munich malt =)

Overall: This is a terrible witbier. Imagine a neutral American wheat ale, then dilute with lots of water and add flour to make it cloudy. bleah.