Aaron Mateychuk, head brewer at Watch City Brewing Co. in Waltham, made a batch of wit with plums and coriander.
(Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff)
First draft
Spicy and complex, wit is alive and kicking
Aaron Mateychuk, head brewer at Watch City Brewing Co. in Waltham, made a batch of wit with plums and coriander.
(Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff)
There was a time midway through the last century when it looked like wit would become extinct. (I’m not talking about the quick, lucid humor of a Dorothy Parker or James Thurber, though that seemed to be in short supply, too.) I’m talking about the style of Belgian ale that is sometimes also called white beer or blanche.
Wit beer, brewed with wheat as well as barley and spiced with coriander and Curaçao orange peel, had been made in Belgium for centuries. At one time, there were more than 30 breweries making the style, but in the mid-’50s the last of these breweries closed, and no wit beer was made for more than a decade. Then in 1966 Pierre Celis revived it in Hoegaarden, Belgium.
The style of brew that Celis re-created is lively and refreshing, and it’s fuller and fruitier than German-style wheat beers (hefeweizen or weiss) and American wheats. It’s a perfect drink for a hot summer’s day, but it also has a subtle complexity from the interplay of the flavors of the yeast, the grains, and the spices that make it pleasing in cooler fall weather, too.
Since Celis started brewing Hoegaarden, the wit style, often made with up to 50 percent wheat, has grown in popularity. Wit beers are now made by brewers around the world, many of them in the United States. American brewers have experimented with adding other spices and fruits in addition to the traditional ones.
Aaron Mateychuk, head brewer at Watch City Brewing Co., in Waltham, says wit is one of his favorite styles of beer. This summer, he made two versions.
An organic gardener, Mateychuk says, “I get excited about what I can grow to put in the beer.’’
This is the kind of adventurous spirit that probably moved some Belgian brewer hundreds of years ago to put the exotic imports of the Netherlands’ spice trade, coriander and Curaçao orange, into an ale.
In addition to orange zest and ginger, Jeux D’Esprit Belgian Wit, Mateychuk’s first batch (now gone), was made with coriander he had grown in last year’s garden. The season’s second wit, Lil’ Jack Horner’s Plum Suckin’ Wit, is made with coriander and plums rather than citrus.
In Maine at Allagash Brewing Co., Rob Tod brews many Belgian-style ales, including Allagash White.
“They’re really complex beers,’’ Tod says of wits. “There’s a lot going on with the spices and the Belgian yeast. Every time I drink [Allagash White] I discover a new flavor or aroma in the beer.’’
“Wit is one of the beers I look forward to brewing because it really means summer is here,’’ Mateychuk says. “It’s so refreshing.’’
It’s that refreshing effervescence, fruitiness, and spiciness that’s the soul of these wits.
Allagash White from Maine’s Allagash Brewing Co. - Light gold color with a lacy white head. Flowery citrus nose; crisp, peppery, and well balanced with a citrus tang. (About $11 for four 12-ounce bottles) Menotomy Beer and Wine, 80 Broadway, Arlington, 781-646-0889; Charles Street Liquors, 143 Charles St., Beacon Hill, 617-523-5051.
Avery White Rascal from Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, Colo. - Straw-colored with a fluffy white head. Crisp and tingly with a bit of coriander spiciness, full flavor, very well balanced, tart apple fruit notes. (About $12 for six 12-ounce bottles) Downtown Wine & Spirits, 225 Elm St., Somerville, 617-625-7777; Wine Gallery, 375 Boylston St., Brookline, 617-277-5522.
Ommegang Witte from Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, N.Y. - Light gold with a big, lacy head, very crisp and peppery, with a bit of tart apple and a very dry finish. (About $9 for a 22-ounce bottle) SavMor Liquors, 2153 Mystic Valley Pkwy., Medford, 781-395-6200; Winchester Wine & Spirits, 632 Main St., Winchester, 781-721-5900.
Blanche de Chambly from
Lil’ Jack Horner’s Plum Suckin’ Wit from Watch City Brewing Co., Waltham - Crisp and smooth with very subtle coriander pepperiness and a discernible round plummy flavor. ($4.95 for a pint) Watch City Brewing Co., 256 Moody St., Waltham, 781-647-4000.
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