Belgian Witbier - Tasting

I brewed up my first Belgian Witbier over four months ago now.  It has been in the bottle for over three months.  This is a style that is ideally consumed fresh.  The beer may have been better a couple months ago but I didn't really notice any drop off in quality as I drank the beer over time.

This is an interesting style of beer in that it is spiced with Coriander and Orange peal.  Per the style guide, these serve to compliment the spicy and fruity Belgian yeast.  This is the first beer I've brewed with spicing other than hops.  It made for an interesting brew day to add these ingredients.

This was also the first beer I've brewed to utilize a cereal mash to convert the sugars in unmalted wheat.  The use of unmalted wheat is traditional to the style and, in theory, lends some flavors that cannot be approximated through the use of malted wheat.  Not sure that's really true but it was interesting to go through the process.

I've really enjoyed drinking this beer.  This isn't a style that I've had too many commercial examples of but I'll have to seek some more out for comparison.  This is definitely a lot better than Blue Moon - has a lot more going on.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Fruity and spicy yeast ester is the primary aroma.  It's indistinctly fruity.  After that, there is quite a bit of coriander on the nose.  Next there is some bready malt character.  Not sure I'm getting any orange - could just be well blended with the yeast ester character.  No hop character.
• Appearance:
• Pours pretty clear now that it's been sitting in the bottle for 3+ months.  I swirled the sediment into suspension part way through the pour to get the cloudiness seen in the picture.  It is light gold in color.  Pours with a 3 finger head that dissipates down to a thin layer after a few minutes.  Leaves a bit of lacing on the glass.
• Flavor:
• Beer is balanced between the bready and slightly sweet malt and the spicy and fruity yeast esters.  Up front a bit of light coriander spice comes through pretty clearly.  It finishes with a light and crisp bitterness that doesn't linger long.  There is a bit of orange zest flavor in the finish.  No real hop flavor (don't recall any when it was fresher either).
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied.  Smooth drinking.  It has a slightly sweet finish.
• Overall:
• This is a light and easy drinking beer that packs a lot of flavor.  The malt balances the yeast character nicely and the spicing is restrained but comes through enough to add another complimentary dimension to the beer.  I wasn't able to pin-point anything I could confidently say was a flavor contribution from the unmalted wheat but it likely was a big contributor to the smooth body of the beer.