Beer and Cheer: Bell’s Winter White

Winter White Ale Bell’s Brewery Comstock, Michigan

Warning: This beer isn’t available in Colorado as far as a know, but a friend who lives in Indiana brought it to me as a gift, so what the hell.

Also, when I blogged about the superiority of Colorado and California beers during the Great American Beer Festival last October, I was roundly criticized by those from the Midwest and East Coast (and Texas, but I ignored you, y’all). And some of you suggested Bell’s. Furthermore, when my Holiday Beer slideshow hit Digg.com, I was also called out by people who think I love Colorado and Cali too much.

Anyway, this is classic Belgian White, and it shows off one of the greatest things about holiday beers: namely that there are so many different styles.

While English Strong Ales, porters and stouts are the most popular and the most traditional, different breweries take wildly different approaches, and it makes for a fun ride across a wide spectrum of tastes. Belgian white are typically a summer beer, but Bell chose to make theirs for the winter. Cool.

Imbued with the classic Belgian white flavors of coriander and orange zest, this wheat beer has a sweet, smooth, almost creamy taste and feel. I could almost picture myself drinking it out of a giant stone mug while I was schussed along a snowy path in the back of a horse-led sleigh. I have quite an imagination, by the way.

Anyway, thanks for the beer, Sean. – Jonathan Shikes

To read about numerous other holiday beers, click on our Booze News archive and scroll down.