The Bar Towel

I wasn't surprised that Keiths White was awful
I was surprised that Rickard's White was decent

The other day I stumbled on Wellington Wheat. While not a witbier style, I guess they are looking to hop on the 'wheat' brand engineering bandwagon. Unfortunately, I was really surprised how awful it is. I'm glad I only bought one to try. Yeach.

This category must be the new 'light', 'dry' or 'ice'. If the brewers really want to start a trend, they should at least brew some good beer to entice people.

Really Wellington, you should be ashamed.

Never tried Wellington Wheat yet. Is it like Big Rock Grasshopper Wheat?

Tapsucker wrote:I wasn't surprised that Keiths White was awful....

Really Wellington, you should be ashamed.

+ 1 on Keith's.

I have no idea what's going on with Wellington, they brew so much beer that seems "neither here not there' in terms or mainstream potential or beer-snob appeal. They are no Sierra Nevada that's for sure. Yet.. they seem to keep ticking along without stumbling into financial crisis, so how can I question their busniess!

I'm partial to the Arkell Bitter and the Iron Duke, especially on tap. The ID on cask at last year's C'est What fest was a highlight.

I've drank a lot of the County Dark Ale... and occasionally had the iron duke & Imperial Stout. All great stuff IMHO.

I've never liked the Special Pale Ale... it has some sort of earthy/nutshell bitterness that I simply don't like. No idea what that is.

It seems like white is the new black. I've had so many witbiers recently, we must be hitting saturation soon. So... where did you pick up the Wellington?

Tapsucker wrote: I was surprised that Rickard's White was decent

Anyone else agree with that statement? I haven't tried it as I'd have to buy a full six pack, something I haven't been willing to do based on my experiences with the other Rickard's beers. Lately I've been getting a six pack of White beer every weekend but I'm looking for something different. Where I live the White beers usually available are Blanche de Chambly, Hoegaarden and occasionally Mill St Belgian Wit. Oh, and Dave's President's Choice really cheap Blanche beer! I'd be surprised if Rickard's is in the same category as Chambly, Hoegaarden, and Mill St but after really enjoying the Kronenbourg Blanc, much to my surprise, I'm trying to keep an open mind.

If I'm in a bar tied to Molsons, I'll often have the Rickards White, and although its not a great beer, I'd put it just below Erdinger on draft. Never had the bottled version

Philip1, as mentioned in another thread here, we are bringing in some St. Bernardus Witbier which was developed by Pierre Celis for St. Bernardus. It is the highest rated Witbier on beeradvocate.com and the second highest rated on ratebeer.com, .01 points behind the top rated beer.

From what I understand, Rickards White is Blue Moon that you can get in the US, and since the Molson-Coors merger is mostly brewed in Toronto. Pretty good for a North American mass-market witbier.
Although the Rickards doesn't have very many reviews on Ratebeer, it's funny that the Rickards stigma has cost it 32 points in the reviews.

I've not tried the Rickard's White in bottles, but on draught, it can be quite good, assuming you're in a place that keeps their lines clean.

However, the same can't be said for the yet-to-be-named Rickard's beer that was being previewed at Mondial. It won't be out until November, and while it was described on the signage as "an English-style porter with a hint of maple" (or something like that), it's further away from being a porter than Keith's Stout is from being a stout. Whoo boy...

Oh, and to the original poster: are you sure you didn't mean WATERLOO Wheat rather than Wellington Wheat? There is no mention of a wheat beer on the Wellington website, and aside from their Trailhead Lager, they tend to stick with UK-style ales, so I'd find it strange for them to do a wheat beer.

Plus, the Waterloo Wheat is pretty awful. Too bad, as the original version that they released as a limited edition in bomber bottles a couple of years ago was quite decent. But the recently relaunched version is crap.

I recently had a couple pints of Rickard's White and was quite pleasantly surprised. I haven't tried it in bottles, so I can't comment on that.

I've had 2 bottles of Rickard's White in the past few days...of course I'm prejudiced but I was not impressed. A good introduction for a neophyte but if you like the style, better to go with Hoegaarden....or our St. B Witbier when it arrives.

Seriously tempted Peter... I was paying close to three bucks USD for one bottle at New Beer Wholesale, so a case-price off close to four bucks CAD per bottle is fair enough... damn if my house is not a clutter of beer! LOL