Belgium Wit
4th Street Brewing Co.

Most patrons at the Black Roots Bar were drinking mixed drinks on my last visit, even though it was Tuesday and pints were just $1. (That's right, one-dollar pints on Tuesdays). But of the guests drinking beer, this Belgian-style wit would appear to have been the most popular. It is easily distinguished at the bar for its fiercely opaque color of over-mixed Tang.

The taste and aroma of this wit are closely linked and are over-the-top bold. I might even suggest they're overplayed and wouldn't want to confuse their strength with quality. But you won't be disappointed for lack of flavor. The spice component is formidable with notes of coriander, ginger, nutmeg and banana while the beer itself is actually brewed with both sweet and bitter orange peel and seeds of paradise. Orange flavor factors heavily and the overall sweetness of the beer reminds me of an orange Crush.

The taste shows a welcome tendency to linger with recurrent waves of aftertaste. That's a neat trick.