Stiegl Max Glaner's Wit
Stieglbrauerei zu Salzburg GmbH

With aroma of leaves, hay and strong orange and a hint of coriander, this starts out real nice. Pours a cloudy yellow - and I might have chosen the wrong glass. No foam with a tulip despite the high, fizzy carbonation. The taste is where it gets bad. It’s sweet, it’s really sour with an astringent, sour finish. The whole experience reminds me of slightly bitter, sour lemonade that gets too stale too easily. Had half of it and offered the rest to the drain. How disappointing after the strong start.

330ml bottle, a refugee from the Stiegl holiday mixed pack, or whatever it is called.

This beer pours a hazy, yet bright medium banana yellow colour, with four fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat fizzy bone-white head, which leaves a bit of spotty lace around the glass as it is quickly devoured by my capable assistant.

It smells of bready and doughy pale malt, a lesser grainy wheatiness, blood orange rind, a hint of plain yeastiness, some muddled earthy spice, and very tame leafy, herbal, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy cereal malt, wet wheat crackers, a sort of candied citrus fruitiness, some mild coriander and black pepper spice, and more understated earthy, leafy, and floral green hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly active in its palate-supporting frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with nothing really getting in the way of a swell time here. It finishes off-dry, the malt and citrus essences predominating.

Overall - this comes across as a simply rendered version of the style, with the focus on the citrus and basic sweetness easy enough to put back. However, if you're looking for the subtle intricacies of the Belgian greats, move along pal, nothing to see here.

 

33cl brown glass bottle with a green label from an Interspar in Innsbruck:

C+ (3.15) / ABOVE AVERAGE