Isn’t it nice when you can enjoy a beer and learn something too? I think so. Case in point is Port City Optimal Wit from the Port City brewing Company of Alexandria, Virginia. My definition of “optimal” is as good as it can be, but just in case you didn’t know, the fine folks at Port City will be more than happy to expand your vocabulary for you. From their website:

When something is optimal it has everything it needs and nothing that it doesn’t. The optimal amount of spices, wheat and hops is found in our Optimal Wit. Brewed as a traditional Belgian style witbier, it is crisp and citrusy with layers of flavor that evolve in the glass. We brew this with Virginia grown wheat and use Spanish orange peels and coriander, which are traditional wit spices. Our unique twist is Grains of Paradise, which gives it a subtle peppery character on the finish.

Truth be told, if you put a gaggle of brewers in a room and asked them to agree on an optimal recipe for any style, I doubt they’d agree on anything. That said, Optimal Wit is a truly delicious and refreshing example of the Belgian Witbier style. Witbier is, I think, an underappreciated style these days, as are a lot of other styles of average strength. The trend these days seems to be towards beers with boatloads of hops and at least 10% alcohol by volume. For my part, I love a good Belgian Wit and you can pry mine from my cold dead fingers.

Port City Optimal Wit has an alcohol content of 5% by volume with just 15 IBUs. It’s not sold in Georgia (yet) but I received a bottle from the ever gracious Chuck Triplett. My sample was bottled on 8/27/2014 according to the date stamp, making it about 4 ½ months old as I sip. I’d say 6 months is a reasonable shelf life for this style, properly stored.

Port City Optimal Wit pours to a cloudy yellow color with a moderate amount of fizzy short lived head and a zesty orange peel and coriander nose. Taking a sip, the beer has tart refreshing crackery wheat up front followed by just the right amount of zesty orange peel and a bit of coriander flavor. Balanced nicely with tart wheat in the finish, this is a fine example of the style indeed.

It’s nice to see a classic style done as well as this one is, and this is definitely a beer that I would buy repeatedly were it sold in my area. I just love a good wit as I told you, and my friends, this is a very good wit.



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