Picture from 04/15/23

Pierre Celis Signature Edition 12/22/07:

4.5, 3.5, 4.0, 4.0, 4.0 B+ 4

Deliberately added as a new entry to the BA database to reflect the Pierre Celis Signature Edition for the Wit.

750 mL, corked & caged. $8.99 Arbor Place Beverage, Douglasville, GA, USA.

Classic, cloudy, washed out lemon colored pour with a huge head and broken lace on the glass. Looks good.
Aroma is very funky and tart, and is a cross between a good old fashioned West Country (England/Somerset/Devon) Cider, and a Saison.

Nice, soft carbonation yields a satisfying mouthfeel.

Plenty of tart acidity in the taste. Surprisingly the apple-like, tart acidity is main feature of the taste. Little of the usual corriander, clove character shines through. For me, the tartness makes this brew taste cider/saison like, and takes it a little away from your normal Wit. Maybe some age would change all of this.

Original Notes 01/23/05:

I’d been waiting to try this one for a long time. A culmination of one of my favorite brewers, and one of my favorite styles. Paid $3.19 for a single 11.2oz bottle, which I suspect was way too much, but I had to buy it out of state when I was away from home since I’ve never seen this is GA.

Poured into a Hoegaarden glass it’s a much paler, less yellow (a dirty orange) color than many of its counterparts, in fact it looks a lot like a classic farmhouse Devonshire cider (a good Scrumpy).

Disappointing head – not as large as I was expecting, not much retention and no lacing. Some prickly carbonation at the beginning. Much less aggressive spices and yeasty cloves than I was expecting, in fact the whole experience was more muted than I was hoping for. On the upside

it does give a very rounded experience.

A little disappointing overall, perhaps because I had a set of unrealistic expectations associated with this beer before I even tried it. There are several, better value Wit’s out there.