Fruit Wizard
Black Raven Brewing Co.

cool to see some new flavors from these guys in the market of late. this is a unique wit type, done with what seems to me to be real grapefruit. its flavorful and distinctive, but to me its also not overly well refined in the sense that it feels heavy rather than airy and fluffy from wheat residuals, and its getting near phenolic on the ferment, too warms and aggressive there, it takes over the back end of this. that said, there is still a lot to like, hazy and orange to pink in the glass, the fruit is evident to the eye and the head is average. the interaction of the earthy wheat, the zesty and also acidic and bitter grapefruit, and the spicy peppery lemongrassy yeast notes all come together very well, and the fruit reads very fresh juiced and authentic to me, even if it might be a little higher dosed than it needs to be. i think of the best witbiers as excited and elegant, and this is a little dense and weighty compared to the gold standard, but the carbonation is good and the flavors are tasty enough that i dont mind the linger. clean up the body a touch, soften the yeast intensity, and you have a real winner here, i could see this working with lemon in an almost shandy way, or with yuzu or something as a neat variant. nice with spicy food too.