An Odd Trio

For the Fading Days of Winter: Bell’s Winter White

Sampled: January to March 2007, December 2010-March 2011
Bell’s Winter White answers a question that long needed asking: Why must all winter seasonals be thick and dark? When winter reaches its nadir, something orange and tangy can fit the bill.

Wheat ales come in many variations, but few parallel this concoction from Bells Brewery in Kalamazoo. Outside of Celis White, a great recipe that struggles to stick with a brewery, Bells Winter White is easily my favorite domestic wheat ale. The fifth and final six pack of the winter was nearly gone before I realized Winter White never received a proper review.

Words escape me at times. Bells might have better beers – I would prefer the cherry stout, but cannot rationalize a $20 six-pack . At half the price, Winter White offers a purified, American take on Belgian white ales.

Winter white pours with a pale orange body with minimal head. The crisp bouquet of cracked wheat, coriander and grains of paradise more than compensates for it.
Impressively, Bell’s does not add any spice to Winter White, generating all that flavor from a lively Belgian yeast and the blend of malted wheat and barley.

Orange dominates, with daggers of lemon, pineapple, banana and clove. Those are the standard flavors for Belgian white, but Winter White possesses a zing which others lack. The freshness of the ingredients makes it spectacular.

On the finish, a slight creaminess emerges but fades before it can become buttery. For season, it's a culture shock that couldn't be more refreshing.

Herald the New Season with Magic Hat Vinyl
Sampled: February 27, 2011

Following the pleasant surprise of Sicko, the brew Magic Hat produces with beats, they returned to my good graces. With Vinyl Spring Lager, they offered a very different brew, but one equally compelling. The overblown promotion of Magic Hat No. 9’s expansion to new markets has been forgiven. The reddish brown body quickly shucks off its head into a thin lace.

The nose bursts forth with a concentrated sweetness that manages to be both fruity and welcoming. A little bit of red apple pops up. With an acceptable level of thickness, this lager finishes slightly sweet, with a hint of candied root vegetables and florid tones owing to hop bitterness.

There’s some lychee and hints of chicory drifting in Vinyl, but they merely increase its complexity and don’t linger too long. The red fruits coat the palate, never overwhelming it. Nor does it taste like additional sugar, but a solid collision of yeast and malt.

Don’t let its color dissuade you. Vinyl pours darker than many spring lagers, but never bogs down in sweetness or loses its session beer style. Spring bocks might be the season’s typical beer, but Vinyl successfully beats the trend.

Black Saison or Belgian Porter? Terrapin Side Project 14: Tomfoolery
Sampled: Feb. 26, 2011
Due to a bad cap that left the ale with a massive metallic complexion, I’m drinking black saison five hours after pouring it. I wonder if the craft brewers of American have run into a major quality control issue. My recent pours have frequently come with that ugly smell permeating whatever I pour.

But back to Terrapin. The Side Project series has produced some memorable excursions. With Yazoo steeping into the mix with a brewery-exclusive black saison, the style has emerged as the latest craft-brewing trend.

A bit of a Belgian yeast profile adds a zesty, creamy texture to the finish. The problem with dark malts is their ability to characterize any beer. The body is actually pretty light; for a dark ale, it is drinkable at 7.3 percent ABV, and bears traits I expect from porter.

The chocolate malts tend to dominate. Other malts round it out effectively, but any hopes saison’s typical spicy orange character should be severely tempered. They lie in many saisons, but not this one.

Any quirks of yeast or outside spicing common to other saisons fails to appear. Terrapin earns some cover from the widespread disparity in the saison style. It originates in whatever ingredients Belgian and French farmers added to their ales, so it can contain anything palatable.

Is dark saison any different from Belgian-style stout or porter? Tomfoolery leaves too little room to differentiate. Terrapin should not consider this prototype for mass production. It's drinkable, but not as cutting edge as the name implies.

Unless Terrapin renames Side Project 14 as a Belgian porter, any similarities to true Saison are purely coincidental.