River Horse Brewing's Double Wit - Beer of the Week

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted May 26th 2009 @ 5:00PM

It's a frothy sip of Belgium via ... New Jersey?

Yup, Lambertville's 13-year-old River Horse Brewing, best known for its malty Hop Hazard Ale and snappy lager, has mastered the delicate art of Belgium's warm season winner, the witbier.

Traditionally, witbiers (aka "white beers," whose cloudy nature is caused by suspended yeast) are constructed with large measures of wheat, then spiced with orange peel, coriander and whatever flavors catch the brewer's fancy. This creates a crisp, frenetically carbonated ale that drinkers of its best-known renditions, Blue Moon and Hoegaarden, sometimes doctor with lemon.

But some would denounce this as foolhardy a move as coating filet mignon with ketchup, and that wondrous wits like Allagash White and River Horse's special-reserve double need no flavor enhancement. Indeed, this heady thirst-quencher decants the color of apricots, with a foamy alabaster cap that quickly dissipates, releasing the fragrance of vanilla and French toast, minus the syrupy sweetness. The creamy and buttery mouthfeel is contrasted by tart, lip-prickling fizz, carrying with it candied sugars cut with lemon and orange and just a hint of stomach-stoking warmth. Peering at the bottle's small print (hello, 7 percent ABV) may be the sole clue that drinking too many of these wits may make you reach your end.

Tags: allagash white, AllagashWhite, beer of the week, BeerOfTheWeek, double wit, DoubleWit, river horse, river horse double wit, RiverHorse, RiverHorseDoubleWit, witbier