Samuel Adams Whitewater IPA - Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.8/5  rDev +7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Fresh bottle from Premier Gourmet. Some hoppy aroma. Significant apricot finish that diffuses the hop bite. Cloudy yellow with lots of foam and lace. Smooth mouthfeel, decent drinkability. Tasty, not an off note but something different and worth the experiment. Significant IBU.

Serving type: bottle

09-05-2012 02:59:00 | More by northyorksammy

womencantsail

California

3.9/5  rDev +10.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

The beer is a bit hazy with some soapy white foam and a bit of sticky lacing. A really interesting aroma. The apricot note is there, as are the spices, can’t really pick out anything in particular, though. A nice citrus and floral hoppiness to it as well. The flavor is sweet up front, but a bitter pine note quickly comes through and gives it an IPA feel. Mild wheat flavor with some sweet bread in the background. Not as much hop flavor as I would have liked, but good overall.

Serving type: bottle

07-30-2012 22:41:27 | More by womencantsail

ChainGangGuy

Georgia

3.2/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Appearance: Pours out a well-hazed, burnished gold body with a tall, foaming, whitish head.

Smell: Notes of coarse ground pepper, coriander with humble wheat and fairly easy-going notes of citrus, pine, and fancy little soaps.

Taste: Crispy wheat blended with crackery, doughy pale malts as firm citrusy, spicy elements roll in from the hops and spice additions. Slight pine felt. Medium-plus bitterness. There's a faint, faint apricot accent -- you really gotta look for it. Pinch of piquant herbs. Dry, bitterish finish with some creamy wheat hints.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation.

Overall: Not great but decent enough.

Serving type: bottle

03-23-2012 03:49:14 | More by ChainGangGuy

UCLABrewN84

California

3.43/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Best before 2/2013.

Pours a murky honey orange with a foamy orange-white head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy rings of lace line the glass on the drink down. Small particles of sediment are seen suspended in the beer after the pour. Smell is of malt, citrus zest, herbal hops, yeast, and a slight nail polish remover aroma. Taste is much the same with a slight fruitiness on the finish. There is a medium hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and a somewhat medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer but the nail polish remover scent gives this beer a slightly harsh aroma.

Serving type: bottle

12-08-2012 05:20:09 | More by UCLABrewN84

Phyl21ca

Quebec (Canada)

3.95/5  rDev +11.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Bottle: Poured a slightly hazy light orangey color ale with a medium size foamy head with good retention and some light lacing. Aroma consists of wheat malt with some notes of very subtle apricot and light fruity hops with light bitterness. Taste is also a mix between some light fruity hops with light bitterness level with some subtle apricot notes and some lightly sweet wheat malt with distant bubblegum notes. Body is about average with good carbonation. Easy to drink with nice level of complexity.

Serving type: bottle

07-05-2012 20:06:48 | More by Phyl21ca

BEERchitect

Kentucky

3.58/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

It's the best fruited IPA to come along since... Dogfish Aprihop. Where, here, the appricot flavor is a complimentary note, the moderate IPA hoppy aromatics, taste, and dryness are hallmarks of the style.

Whitewater IPA opens wiht a hazy golden hue that looks much heavier than it acually is. A creamy and sticky head forms and retains very well while leaving islands of pockets of lace behind. This beer fits the IPA appearance very well.

The pulp of white and red grapefruit is very evident in scent. With that backdrop of thin caramel, the aromas set up with a dominant hop profile of citrus, pine, and freshly cut grasses. A non-descript tropical scent can only be attributed to the apricots, but largely become an afterthought.

Taste reveals much the same: early sweetness of caramel malts, appricots, and citrusy sweetness is quickly surplanted with the quick turn toward citrusy bitterness, piney dryness, and herbal components of grass and resin. This fleeting sweet/lingering bitter flavor is what makes IPAs great, and this beer displays the lop-sided balance very, very well.

Medium-dry early and developing into total dryness later makes this beer a noteworthy IPA. The short-lived sweet malty feel of grain and fruit succumbs to the slight warmth of alcohol but also the evaporative dryness of hops that make this beer so drinkable in the end. I really hope that this beer catches on with the growing craft beer community.

Serving type: bottle

02-02-2012 08:13:08 | More by BEERchitect

oberon

North Carolina

3.48/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Poured into a standard pint glass a tagerine color tinged hazy yellow with a nicely formed lacey 1/2 finger white head.Aromas were pretty light with some toasted wheat and lemony notes,I didn' get much grapefruit or pine like many others.Quite dry on the palate with sharp grapefruit rind and lemon pith,the flavors seem to fade with mild toasted wheat in the finish.Not a bad beer,good to drink while out grillin like today.

Serving type: bottle

04-15-2012 21:05:41 | More by oberon

TMoney2591

Illinois

3.58/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Served in a Lagunitas mason jar.

Swiped this bottle from my brother. Shh! don't tell! Anyway, this stuff pours a cloudy golden straw topped by a bit over a finger of white foam. The nose comprises orange rind, light coriander, light cracked wheat, a twinge of leek, and a bit of pine sap. The taste brings in more of the same, minus the leek and plus a bit of cardamom and black pepper (pinch of each). The body is a light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, a nice Belgian-inspired IPA, one that doesn't overdo it in either direction (always gratifying to see some balance).

Serving type: bottle

12-07-2012 00:10:13 | More by TMoney2591

WesWes

New York

4.1/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

The beer pours a hazy gold color with a thick frothy white head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has an excellent pale and wheat malt character along with some pine and citrus hop notes. It has a slight white ale aroma, but nothing too intense. The taste is good as well. It has a wonderful hop flavor that melds nicely with the solid pale and wheat malt base. It's light and refreshing with a good deal of bitterness. The yeast character really shines and adds additional depth and complexity. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a full bodied beer with adequate carbonation. This is a delicious beer with tons going on. I would keep this one around as a full time offering.

Serving type: bottle

10-01-2012 20:10:32 | More by WesWes

Mora2000

Texas

4/5  rDev +13%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The beer pours a hazy yellow color with a white head. The aroma has a ton of pine and grapefruit notes. Overall, the beer smells very fruity. The flavor is mainly made up of pineapple and other tropical fruit, with some wheat and a little bit of biscuit malt. I also get a light to medium bitterness. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

04-07-2012 04:34:18 | More by Mora2000

zeff80

Missouri

3.58/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A - Poured out a cloudy, orange color with a two-finger, off-white head of bubbly foam. It left thin rings of lace on the glass.

S - It smelled of citrus and pine with some lemon notes.

T - Mild apricot flavors with some wheat and spicy/piney bitterness.

M - It was crisp, sharp and smooth. A medium bodied ale with a dry finish.

O - Reminds me a lot of Latitude 48 with a touch of apricot. Not bad but not something I'll regularly have on hand.

Serving type: bottle

02-05-2012 19:29:37 | More by zeff80

metter98

New York

3.75/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A: The beer is very hazy yellow in color and has a moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger high frothy white head that gradually died down, leaving a thin head consistently covering the surface and lots of lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: There are moderately strong aromas of citrus hops in the nose—grapefruit and oranges seem to stand out in particular.
T: Similar to the smell, the taste has lots of grapefruit flavors and a moderate amount of bitterness.
M: It feels medium-bodied and relatively crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is packed with lots of citrusy hops but is also very easy to drink for the style.

Serving type: bottle

04-27-2012 00:29:18 | More by metter98

TheManiacalOne

Rhode Island

4.18/5  rDev +18.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a US tumbler pint glass.

A: The beer is a deep yellow color, with a large white head that fades slowly and leaves a thick but spotty lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains floral hops, fruity citrus and caramelized malts.

T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of citrus fruits and caramel that are quickly followed by a strong but not over-powering hops bitterness. The malt character is hearty but not too heavy and brings a good balance. The after-taste is slightly hoppy and slightly sweet.

M: Crisp and smooth, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Tasty, goes down quite easily, not too filling, mild kick, good representation of style, this is a very solid IPA to pound down for a long time.

Serving type: bottle

06-14-2012 01:40:54 | More by TheManiacalOne

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

4.28/5  rDev +20.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

This beer really hit the spot for me. I was craving an IPA like you couldn't imagine and I came home and opened this one up. Gave it a good pour and looked over it's hazy golden color and white head. The aroma of this was big on the apricot and hops. Those two aromas blend so well together it made my mouth water. The taste of the beer is about as good as the nose. The flavors of citrusy hops collide with the apricot giving off this really nice refreshing flavor. The spices don't kick in until the finish, but even then they aren't dominant at all. The mouthfeel was light and refreshing. Overall I wished that I had picked up more than just a single bottle of this brew because I would have easily put down a 6 pack of these.

Serving type: bottle

03-13-2012 04:05:12 | More by Knapp85

russpowell

Oklahoma

3.83/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a slightly hazed honey with 3 fingers of pearl colored head, Superior head retention & lacing

S: Orange peel, pine & some grainy notes, Nise stays strong throughout

T: Pineyness, orange peels, a touch of dryness & breadyness up front. Faint apricot fruittyness as this warms, more pineyness, leafy hops & bready notes. Finishes somewhat dry, crisp, slightly fruitty with piney & leafy hop bitterness & just a touch of grapefruit

MF: Medium bodied, moderate carbonation & good balance

A decent IPA, hops profile isn't really wowing me, but would buy this again if I had limited IPA options

Serving type: bottle

02-05-2012 04:52:34 | More by russpowell

Halcyondays

California

4.33/5  rDev +22.3%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

12 oz. bottle,

A: Pours a translucent creamy orange, like a melted down creamsicle with a huge pillowy white head leaving great lace.

S: Has that wit orange peel, some peppery spice.

T: Orange, grapefruit, and apricots upfront and then finishes with a bitter pine attack which is just delicious.

M: Medium-bodied, hint of acid, very crisp, refreshing.

O: One of the best Sam Adams beers I've had in a while. Impressive, great taste.

Serving type: bottle

02-19-2012 04:04:32 | More by Halcyondays

jwc215

New Jersey

4.3/5  rDev +21.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Freshness of July notched on the label:

Pours cloudy lemon-drop yellow with a thin white head. Minimal lacing sticks.

The smell of hops abound - citrus - grapefruit and lemon with pine, apricot and a wheat tang. A wheat, fruity, spiced IPA. Interesting, and certainly inviting!

The taste is of bitter hops - piney and citrusy - grapefruit stands out with a hint of sweetened apricot in the middle. Complex and rich with a wheat twist. It is pretty intense with a bitter finish.

Medium-bodied and pretty chewy and crisp, some alcohol does show. Flavor lingers; so does the dryness.

A very interesting hoppy brew. It's an IPA with white ale characteristics. I love the way the hops linger, though the dryness becomes slightly sandpaper-ish after the second (of the two in the variety pack). (By the way - a "Spring" variety pack released in January is REALLY pushing it, but that's the trend now.) Anyway - if you like hoppy ales and wheat beers this is certainly one to get!

Serving type: bottle

01-20-2012 03:32:08 | More by jwc215

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

3.53/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12oz bottle, procured at the local grocery concern in Keauhou, Hawai'i.

This beer pours a hazy pale golden straw colour, with three fingers of foamy, rocky off-white head, which leaves a wall of macabre webbed lace around the glass as it subsides at an even pace.

It smells of citrus rind, pine resin, and mild herbal hop esters, some mild sour apricot fruitiness, and a soft grainy, wheaty breadiness. The taste is a bigger showcase for the apricot adjunct, as the fruitiness leads here, with the citrus and pine usual suspects shunted to the background, though the herbal ones don't have that same problem. The malt gains some caramel notes above the steady grainy wheatiness.

The carbonation is pretty average, the body a decent medium weight, and more or less smooth. It finishes hoppy, but in the pithy fruity way, not so much in the bitter, though some leafy essence of that sort lingers and loiters.

A so-so IPA, the ascension of the fruit at the expense of the zingy bitterness the primary culprit, IMHO. Ok for couple, I suppose, but I'd want something more bold thereafter, should I still be craving a Yankee IPA.

Serving type: bottle

05-14-2012 06:34:33 | More by biboergosum

tempest

Pennsylvania

3.96/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured a hazy blonde with a tall, thick white head. This is a nice take on the wheat IPA, I like it and would have another. The hops character has a balance, and delicious, mix of grassy lemon with tropical fruit, which probably also comes from the apricot addition. The flavors blend seamlessly though, as they should. The finish is dry and spicy with a lemon rind and grapefruit tang. This is one of my favorite Sam beers, and an all-around pleasant beer for any occasion.

Serving type: bottle

03-28-2013 02:05:54 | More by tempest

WVbeergeek

Ohio

3.88/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Beautiful glazed golden apricot hue with a hazy dark orange center to the body with a bright white clouded rising bread dough head. Lacing is fine intricate and spread evenly, again great looking beer. Aromatics are caught up in the lemon/orange/grapefruit mix of the citrus spectrum, slightly spicy yeast notes coming all I'm really getting is the bitter orange pith with a hints of grapefruit juice. Flavor rolling hop bitterness very green upfront finishes like a spiced perfume clove party in your mouth, kind of a wild mix the next big hybrid. That nose makes you want to jump in big citric West Coast IPA style nose to it with somewhat of a letdown in the flavor with the overbearing spices shining a bit to hard in the finish. The yeast, clove bitterness actually fights with the hops these two elements end up clashing a leaving quite the trainwreck on the palate bitter orange pith is left behind with each sip and hints of did somebody just spray perfume in my mouth. Carbonation level was dead on nice airy visually dead on and the nose was amazing, just the flavor ruining the party of making this one to truly seek out. Go ahead try it there's more White IPA to come jump on the bandwagon kids, we don't have a say in the trends anymore.

Serving type: bottle

01-15-2012 06:33:38 | More by WVbeergeek

RblWthACoz

Pennsylvania

4.11/5  rDev +16.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

So this is a wheat ale? With hops? A Belgian IPA? Is that what the goal was here?

Clear hop spices going on with a salty bitterness. Must say that the nose on this one, at first, was just divine. Seems a silly word to use, but hey, with all these reviews, I need to mix it up and all. I kind of like this one, now that it's warmed up. Pretty good showing.

Serving type: bottle

01-23-2013 05:11:10 | More by RblWthACoz

smcolw

Massachusetts

3.68/5  rDev +4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

It looks like a wheat--plenty of lace from the long lasting head. The brew is appropriately cloudy with a dark gold color.

Light wheat with a dollop of peppery hop bitterness.

Leans toward the hop bitterness. There's enough wheat for interest, but I would not qualify this that way. I also do not detect any apricot or spices. All that said, I find this to be a very easy beer to drink.

Serving type: bottle

05-13-2012 19:01:54 | More by smcolw

Wasatch

Utah

3.76/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a very nice cloudy yellow color, nice carbonation, with a nice one-finger creamy white head, with lots of sticky lacing left behind. The nose is hoppy, slightly yeasty, kinda fruity. The taste is a unique blend of hops and yeast notes, slightly malty, with some fruit notes. Medium body, with a nice bitter finish. Overall a very tasty brew, exactly what I would expect from SA.

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2013 00:29:23 | More by Wasatch

Billolick

New York

3.68/5  rDev +4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

12 ounce bottle, with freshness info notching on the side of the label. Came as part of the hop a licious box set.

Pours clouded washed out pale apricot. Light tan, fine bubble head, stays at the 1/4 inch level and leaves decent strands and bits of lace.

Moderate grapefruit rinds, pine needles and sweet flowery hints picked up by the sniffer.

More dry grapefruit, light pine and fruity IPA goodness on the palate. Not picking up the advertised apricots. Tasty enough, but a bit lacking in density of flavor and bite of hop. Middle of the road mass produced IPA. Drinkable for sure, but not in the class of more intensly flavorful renditions of the style. Good newbie craft brew, perhaps something my BMC drinking kids might try and enjoy. Decent summery IPA

Serving type: bottle

05-30-2012 01:33:51 | More by Billolick

jlindros

Massachusetts

4.1/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Aggressive pour yields a light fizzy 1/2 finger head that at least fades slowly, some lacing, hazy Murky carrot orange color, not bad for a wheat based ale.

Nose has tropical fruit, maybe amarillo or simcoe, mango, etc. also apricot fruit and a light wheat, a bit similar to gumballhead but a bit lighter.

Taste is wheat base, hint of grassy wheat malt flavor with light spices. Then hops kick in, big hoppy spicy hops with a tropical fruit again. Again light mango, pineapple, juicy apricot fruit as well. Bitter spicy earthy rind. Finish gets quite biter, long biter spicy earthy hop almost salty and hints at astringent but not quite, chewy hops, and a hint of tropical fruit and pine remnants.

Mouth is med, good carb.

Overall great, best new beer from them in a long time, nice wheat, fruit, and hops all done well.

Serving type: bottle

01-31-2012 12:53:24 | More by jlindros