Pretty Witty
The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company

Appearance - Pours a hazy pale straw with two fingers of foamy white head.

Smell - Belgian yeast, orange, coriander, hint of black pepper and clove, floral aromas, Saaz hops. and peach and apricot.

Taste - Traditional flavours of a witbier shine (Belgian yeast, orange, coriander, spices), but is provided with extra flavour oomph from the elderflower, honey, and peaches/apricots. Incredibly flavourful.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate-to-high carbonation. Crisp and dry, with lingering summer fruit aftertaste.

Overall - An incredibly refreshing and flavourful twist on the witbier. When I read honey, peaches and apricots on the label, I had some concern of it being cloying - not at all! Well balanced and dry, this beer has me ready for summer.

 

650ml bottle - a witbier, made in support of the Big Boots Society and International Women's Day (so a bit late, then, on the latter count). I'll concede, it's a good 'n punny name.

This beer pours a rather hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with a near-teeming tower of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly chalky white head, which leaves some thick streaky lace around the glass as it evenly sinks away.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy and doughy wheat malt, earthy honey, muddled peppery spice, indistinct musty florals, dried apricots, and some very tame leafy, weedy, and grassy noble hop bitters. The taste is yeasty peaches, gritty and grainy pale malt, a lesser edgy wheatiness, thin honey notes, a further stone fruitiness, estery flowers, some still hard to pin down ground pepper essences, and more leafy, musky, and grassy verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly active in its palate-probing frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, with a meek airy creaminess arising as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes off-dry, the big malt lounging with the lingering stone fruit, yeast, and floral character, as if 'twas no big deal.

Overall, this is a well-made, and enjoyable version of the style, with the additional fruit and flower adjuncts contributing to the complex flavour profile. Easy to drink, and pretty summery, as if the busy label wasn't an initial tip-off. Worth checking out.