I've had a Walt Wit before, but it was very interesting drinking one after five solid months of trying to learn everything I can about tasting beer. I have two new perspectives now.
First, and most superficially, I have a deeper appreciation for what makes a beer style taste the way it does, and so I'm able to more appreciate when a beer I already know has its secrets revealed to me. This might be Walt Wit #50 in my life, give or take, but this is the first time in my life that I understood that this was a Witbier, and what exactly that meant. To me, it's no longer "a light refreshing beer on Philadelphia Brewing's menu," now it's "a creamy, hazy beer, low on bitterness, around 4.5% ABV, with hints of orange peel and coriander." This is important!
I mean, I'm looking at Philly Brewing's beer list in a whole new light. Okay, so Kenzinger is lager that is a little hoppier than normal... Newbold is an IPA, which means it's hoppier and stronger than Pennsylvania Pale Ale... Joe Coffee Porter probably doesn't taste that all that much like coffee, and it makes me want to try it (a beer that I have often avoided in the past)... oh, they have a new Berliner Weiss? I know exactly what that means now... and etc.
Second new perspective is a deeper appreciation for the breweries themselves, and how complicated it must be to brew all these different types of beers competently and confidently. Taking beer seriously means taking the beer makers seriously. I wish I didn't come to this realization during a time when I'm not able to actually go to the damn breweries and pay my respects. So it goes.
I will probably have a lot more to say about Philadelphia Brewing Company at a later date, but since they are a classic brewery in my favorite city, and Walt Wit is the first beer of theirs I've had in 2020, there will be plenty of other opportunities to say it all at a soon enough date.
NOTES
BEER: Walt Wit
STYLE: Belgian Witbier
ABV: 4.2%
BREWED BY: Philadelphia Brewing Company
LOCATION: um, Philadelphia
PURCHASED AT: IGA clearance rack, Walt Wit deserves better!
PAIRED WITH: Chicken (marinated in Italian dressing) on the grill
GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 203
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