What am I tasting in White Ale??

[Lando]

Every time I grab a commercial white ale.. blue moon, sam adams white ale...etc I am tasting a flavor I am not familiar with. It is almost like a sharp over carbonation bite, or really sharp sting from it.
I don't know how else to describe it, but is anyone else familiar with the taste I am referring too? Any idea what causes this taste?

 

[ericm]

I've never had sam adams white, and blue moon is a pretty tamed-down version, but those are both basically belgian witbiers - you're probably tasting some phenols from the yeast and some tang or spice from the wheat itself. they're often spiced a bit with coriander and orange peel, which you might also be tasting.

Try some hoegaarden for a relatively easy to find more-or-less classic version of the style

 

[wwwdotcomdotnet]

SA White Ale has

• Coriander
• Orange peel
• Lemon Peel
• Anise
• Tamarind
• Rose hips
• Vanilla
• Grains of paradise
• Hibiscus
• Plum

 

[Lando]

Hmmm, could be the fruit peels I guess. It seems like an acid taste without the sweet or sour of the fruit. It's not a flavor I care for at all, but I do want to nail down what causes it. I have only experinced it in white ales. Some more than others and some bad enough that I won't drink it.

 

[bgough]

Witbiers are generally carbonated up around 3 volumes, while most ales are down around 2.5. Higher carbonation will appear to have a stronger "bite" on the tounge from the carbonic acid. I dont know if thats what your tasting, but it could be.

 

[McGarnigle]

The fact that Sam Adams uses 10 spices must mean their witbier is the best in the world.

 

[jgln]

Hmmm, could be the fruit peels I guess. It seems like an acid taste without the sweet or sour of the fruit. It's not a flavor I care for at all, but I do want to nail down what causes it. I have only experinced it in white ales. Some more than others and some bad enough that I won't drink it.

I have brewed some Belgian beers but left out the orange peel and coriander. Good stuff but this weekend I decided my next I would at least add the orange peel. While I was drinking one recently I decided to add a bit of orange juice and that taste you describe came right through. I am guessing the fruit addition.
With that said, anyone ever substitute with orange juice?

 

[McGarnigle]

I have brewed some Belgian beers but left out the orange peel and coriander. Good stuff but this weekend I decided my next I would at least add the orange peel. While I was drinking one recently I decided to add a bit of orange juice and that taste you describe came right through. I am guessing the fruit addition.
With that said, anyone ever substitute with orange juice?

The book Extreme Brewing has a recipe that uses blood oranges (for a Hefe, though, not a Wit). You can probably just google for it and use regular oranges.

 

[RCCOLA]

The fact that Sam Adams uses 10 spices must mean their witbier is the best in the world.

You forgot something.

 

[Braid]

I guess I cheated and used 2 tablespoons of orange marmalade in the last 10 mins of a 10 gallon batch. If I were to do it over, I'd use 1 or 1 and a half Tbs. I used the "Nit Wit Strong Wit" recipe from radical brewing and was very happy with it.

 

[the_bird]

It's probably the yeast flavor that you're picking up, although some also decribe wheat beers as generally having a bit of a "sour" note about them. Not something you pick up in an American wheat beer? I'd say most likely it's the yeast.