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Funkmasterchilly

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what does wit mean?? ex. cranberry wit ale. is it just a short way of saying wheat???:confused:

sorry i'm a newbie:confused:
 
WITBIER
Wit, or white, bier is a pale golden, tart, refreshing style thick with sediment and with a high level of carbon dioxide. With the pale malts, unmalted wheat and lack of filtration it's no surprise that it bares some resemblance to German HefeWiesse. The greatest different between Wit and its German cousin is the addition of spices, classically coriander and bitter Curacao orange peel.
 
Just since nobody's mentioned it, "wit" is the a Belgian style of wheat beer. Hoegaarden is the beer that's considered to have popularized the style recently.

Wits tend to be less fruity and more spicy than other common wheat styles. Unlike hefeweizens (in which the practice is far from universal, but is very old), wits are not traditionally served with a slice of lemon or orange in them. That said, thanks mainly to the influence of Blue Moon they are often seen with such garnish these days.

Allagash White is a pretty widely available and very highly regarded version of the style.

Blue Moon is an incredibly widely available version (it's made by Coors) that's passable and will at least give you an impression of how a wit differs from a hefeweizen (an originally German style typified by Paulaner or Weihenstaphaner) or an American pale wheat (e.g. Widmer Brothers or Pyramid hefeweizens, both of which are American wheats and not hefeweizens despite the name)

Go for an Allagash White if you can find it, though.
 
Wit is Belgium for white.

Weizen is German for Wheat.

Weisse or weissen which is German for white.

Hefe - German for yeast, ergo, Hefe Weizen is a yeasty wheat beer, or a Weisbier.

These "white" beers are not really white. It's just relative that all beers prior to a pilsner (1842) were dark. So, these are "relatively" white in comparison.
 
Huh. I thought that Wit meant, "Please sir, place a bit of fruit in my beer when you bring it to me." Because I can't order a Blue Moon without that happening! Of course my wife insists that I should remember to specify no fruit when I order, but I believe that the wait staff should ask before automatically assuming I'd want that crap in my beer!
 
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