4 Pines The Charlotte Wit - 4 Pines Brewing Company

lacqueredmouse

Australia

4/5  rDev +2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

As part of Sydney Craft Beer Week's "Beer Mimics Food" theme, 4 Pines collaborated with four chefs and other foodies to create a series of Beer Mimics Food beers. This one was their collaboration with patissier Adriano Zumbo: a coconut and pineapple infused witbier brewed with lactose. Tried on nitro-tap at 4 Pines in Manly.

I'm not sure I've ever had a witbier on nitro before, but it suits it: a firmly hazed deep golden body gets crowned majestically by a very, very fine head of solid white, that leaves some sheeting, gluey lacing. It also stays remarkably flat and dormant: almost no carbonation is visible.

Coconut on the nose is immediately noticeable, with a hint of pineapple coming through, but much less dominant than the coconut. Some peppery characters work with some of the sweeter fragrances to almost give it a saison-like character. It's perhaps sharper and spicier than I was expecting, but it's solid stuff.

Pepper on the front palate, with a mild phenolic spice coming through. Later, some of the smoothness from the additional characters, and perhaps the lactose comes through, lending a creamy feel and some smoothness. The finish adds a bit more spice, with a strong Belgian yeast character, and we eventually get more of that pineapple and coconut—together they form a pretty funky finish.

Very smooth all over: the nitro certainly helps here.

Overall, this was a very drinkable brew. Moreover, it was quite interesting while still maintaining a semblance of the style it's based around. I was very impressed.

Serving type: nitro-tap

11-29-2012 04:33:11 | More by lacqueredmouse

laituegonflable

Australia

3.85/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Pours a cloudy yellow colour, pale, bit of a greenish tinge with fine bead and, of course a lovely creamy nitro head. Good retention; looks great; textbook witbier but the nitro is real treat. I'm a sucker for nitro.

Fruity nose. Bananas and coconut dominate with earthy spice notes of coriander and white pepper and a hint of capsicum. Pretty decent, but standard wit mostly.

Taste is also pretty banana-y, with vanilla, some baked apple and nashi pear crispness. Coconut is not strong, maybe a hint of the pineapple on there though. Tangy, but overall still quite sweet and certainly not out of the realm of dessert beer. Still, less sweet than I expected but decent characters.

Nitro is always so smooth, but it also works really well here, softening some of the pointier spice flavours on the palate. More nitro wits, I say.

Quite impressed with this. Drinks like a wit but some interesting notes in there. Great job by Tweddell bringing Zumbo's vision to life.

Serving type: nitro-tap

03-07-2013 05:28:35 | More by laituegonflable