Scandia Ale
Summit Brewing Company

 

 

 

Taste: Orange, white fruits. This beer was spiced hard. You could say this is a pretty decent attempt at a Belgium wit. Lemony aftertaste.

Smell: Well above average here. Orange and spice are very dominant.

Mouthfeel: Medium body (very good for a wit)

Notes/Drinkability: A spicy beer that lends itself to one or two glasses before having to take a break from it. I wish the other tasting notes were a little more pronounced but they seem to get dominated by the spice.

Serving type: on-tap

08-30-2006 03:24:19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this single 12oz brown bottle at the Binny's in Plainfield, IL for $1.49. This beer is only brewed in the summer and I am opening it in January, so I hope it holds up well. No freshness date to be found.

The beer poured a hazy light gold color and made a 2 finger white head that faded to just a rim in about a minute. There wasn't very much lacing to speak of.

The smell was spices and orange peel.

There were lots of flavors in here. Cardamom and coriander spices mix with wheat malt and bready yeast. Orange peel adds both fruitiness and some bitterness to the mix, and then the saaz hops add a touch more bitterness to the finish. At just 17 IBUs this
is not a hoppy beer, but I like the subtle hop presence that makes this beer stand out. It's a really good witbier.

Light to meduim body with meduim caebonation.

At 4.8% abv you can pound these down without feeling much. Wish now I had gotten a 6 pack instead of a single bottle.

Pours a very nice beautiful golden color with a shining white head.

The smell is zesty, lots of citrus and spice, there is definitely a strong pear note.

The taste here is pretty damn good, maybe a little more on the spicier side of witbiers, but damn good. Tastes just like it smells, zesty and spicy. Lemon, pear, orange and delicious.

Good moutfeel, smooth and a little creamy. Very nice level of carbonation, not too much, not too little.

Overall this is a pretty damn good example of the style, IMO one of the better offerings from Summit.

A: Slowly builds about a one finger, pretty white head with medium sized bubbles. The beer itself is sort of hazy with mild carbonation inside. The head fades fast. This beer is a little bit darker than I would want for a whit beer. And now the head is gone.

S: Spices, plenty of them. Maybe some honey as well, not very wheaty though. I detect maybe a little alcohol, but that could just be the spice. I also get some hops, but not a lot.

T: MM, quite spicey, maybe cloves, cardamom and a little orange peel? Hops, though which I'm not sure, compliment it. I would say it lacks maltiness, which is a shame, but pretty much to style I suppose.

M: Biting and a little carbed. Fairly light. great for a warm evening or in fact if you've been wrapped up tight in the winter as well.

D: Pretty drinkable, the spice sort of gets a bit much over time.

Gold in color with some minor cloudiness. Light amount of prickle. Thick and frothy head. Light malt on the nose. Spicy attack and seemingly very sweet. There is something about the beer that almost reminds me of muffins. Seems like it should be a holiday beer out around thanksgiving rather than summer time. I swear that there is cinnamon in this beer. Clean finish with a fruity aftertaste.

Ok, I tried to be fair to this beer even though I really have had nothing similar to compare it to, but I still am not a fan.
Poured it into a chilled pint glass.
To me this beer is better if you swill around the dregs on the bottom with the last half inch of the bottle and then add it.
It looks very cloudy and a pale yellow color with a nice little head that had decently chunky lacing.
It smells and tastes like they added (this is my problem which I couldn't get over) water that someone used to boil a bunch of hotdogs in. Yes, there was the coriander and pepper and spices, etc. but it is just over the top for me and if they had upped the orange and clove hues and sweetened it up a tad then maybe I could have disregarded the meatiness of this peculiar brew.
It feels alright in the mouth and is pretty smooth; however I won't be finishing the 12er that I picked up and will dole it out to my friends that are big witbier aficionados.

Pours clouded lemon-drop yellow with a thin becomes wispy.

The smell is of bubblegum/cotton candy, peppery spicing, orange peel, banana and wheat tang.

The taste is of bubblegum/cotton candy with orange peel and coriander/black pepper. It has a sweet and spicing, slightly tart, becoming dry, finish.

It is effervescent, light-bodied (but not thin)and crisp.

They did a fine interpretation of a traditional witbier. Rivals some I've had from Belgium, IMO.

Serving glass: Poured from bottle into water glass at work.

Appearance: Pale cloudy yellow with moderate head and nice lacing.

Smell: Orange, lemon, clove, coriander, pepper and maybe even other spices. More complex smell than many Wits but less sour notes.

Taste: Tastes very similar to the smell. Orange and coriander are noticeable, as expected for a Wit, but lemon and pepper play a major role as well, likely due to the addition of Cardamom. Just barely sour, and might even taste slight banana. For me, this is just so much better than Summit Hefeweizen, their other summer seasonal.

Feel: Pretty high carbonation, light to medium body, and fairly smooth for the style.

Drinkability: This is the most refreshing, easy to drink Wit I have had. Really commend Summit for making something so different than what they usually do. Plus the addition of Cardamom is fantastic.

Pours a hazy yellow with a nicely retained head and lacing.

Banana, clove and assorted other spices make for a perfect wit taste.

Very smooth medium bodied mouthfeel with fine carbonation.

Extremely drinkable and very smooth with a quality flavor that fits the style.

I wish this was more widely available in my area. One of the best American takes on the style, that I've had. Another impressive beer from Summit.

Served on tap at Kelleher's Pub in Peoria, IL

A - poured a hazy pale yellow with a fluffy white head

S - coriander and wheat dominated the nose.

T - The taste was dominated by coriander, spice, and clove. This was very true to its style.

M - very thin

D - very light, delicious, and refreshing. It this place didn't have so many great things on tap I would drink this all night. One of the better Wits I have tried and this is also my first from Summit.