Ripple White Ale
4 Hands Brewing Co.

Poured from a can into a pint glass. Pours straw yellow with a small white head. Smells of cereal grain, slight citrus. Tastes of wheat with banana flavors. Beer is light bodied and easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a good beer.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 13 of the 2020 Advent calendar.

Orange Ale? I had low expections.
It was extremely pale with a good head on it. Aroma of yeast and cookies. Might be something to this after all.
Couldn't really detect any orange, what with the spicy notes and the yeast. If I didn't know better, I'd call this a saison.
A damned good saison, in fact. Very enjoyable.

Day 13 on the beer advent calendar

Clear with some carbonation and a nice pale yellow with a short white head that dissipates pretty quickly. Aroma is of a spicy orange and the taste follows that to a tee. Goes down smooth.

 

I don't think of 4 Hands as a Belgian-inspired brewer. But wits rely less on cultivating the yeast than do other Belgian styles. So, a wit is lower risk for a brewer, like 4 Hands, who mostly adapts the British tradition to the American palate.

That said, this a pretty average wit. And its Looks are below that, not at all lively. Smells, I get the fruit and the orange and the wheat and, then, the spices. Tastes are slightly better than average as these elements are well-balanced; nothing is pushy. In the mouth, it is refreshing, but more bubbles please.

This wit went fine with dinner leftovers. My bad is that I had it in February.

4 Hands does have a few saisons and I'd like to try one and see how it helps food. 4 Hands might be Belgian-inspired yet.

 

 

Taste: Citrus, refreshingly crisp, some orange sweet, notes, banana, Belgian yeast. Orange peel and bready nose. Gold hue, mostly clear, with a smaller head and some lace. Medium body. would pair well with seafood.

 

 

I am finding that, while I have plenty of brewery horizontals, I also have a number of single-O CANs also awaiting inclusion in The CANQuest (tm). As such, since I am getting ready to depart for the weekend & I want to get one in before I go, this seems like an appropriate choice, especially in the face of CANother hot, humid Summer's day.

From the CAN: "Ale with Orange"; "Pairings[:] Seafood [&] Brunch".

I CANducted some in-CAN agitation before Crack!ing open the vent to begin my aggro, heavy-handed C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. After all, this was a Witbier & cloudiness was to be expected. It quickly formed just over two fingers of fizzy, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with rather limited retention, quickly falling away to wisps. Color was a lightly-hazy Straw-Yellow (SRM = > 2, < 4). Nose was kind of weak, not really evincing either the orange mentioned on the CAN or the spices that are an inherent, intrinsic part of the style. Mouthfeel was thin & kind of watery. The taste had a light spiciness, but the orange really was not coming through & I am not sure that I could have identified the style on my own. Finish was dry, but that was probably a result of the spices. I CAN only say that while I was underwhelmed, YMMV.