Sam Adams White Lantern

Name:                 Sam Adams White Lantern

Style:                   Belgian white ale (witbier)

Twist:                  Brewed with tangerine and grains of paradise (and of course orange peel and coriander)

Strength:            5.5%

Poured from a 12oz bottle into my Boston Lager glass.  From this year’s Spring Thaw mixer.

Doesn’t really look like much, which is to say it looks like a lot of white ales.    The haze is proper and the carbonation looks appropriate, though the foam never gets much beyond a thin film.  It is a bit more golden in hue than some witbiers.

The aroma actually smells quite a bit more like wheat than I expected.  There is some vague fruitiness that I couldn’t place as any single fruit, with an underlying tartness as well.  Generally pretty tame and (like most white ales) not very beer-like.

White Lantern more or less starts off like a white ale should, very crisp on the wheat end.  The oranges and tangerine seem to be on the subtler side for a white ale; it’s a fine line between subtle and too tame.  The finish is probably the most perplexing.  This stands out for having one of the spiciest, tangiest finishes of any wit I’ve had.  I could probably chalk it up to the grains of paradise or the coriander, but it almost comes across like the finish of their Alpine Spring, which was brewed with Tettnang hops.  Perhaps spalter hops taste similar?  Anyway, I’m sure the grains are adding to it.  I could use more tangerine, personally.

Mouthfeel is light, pretty dry.  It’s a white ale, not much to say here.

I feel like they missed an opportunity here by understating the tangerine too much, and emphasizing whatever that tanginess is too much.  And seriously, why is Sam Adams brewing yet another wheat beer with grains of paradise?  Is this number three or number four?

An easy to drink and inoffensive beer, but there’s other white ales I’d rather have.