Wit Shootout

During our last brewing session we did a taste comparison of our basic Belgian Wit against two commercial standards.  The beers were Hoegaarden (from Belgium), and the classic American Interpretation, Blue Moon made by Coors here in Colorado.


Overall, I liked our beer better, as did my brother and his son.  My wife (not a beer drinker) liked the Blue Moon.  Hoegaarden did not do well with us, which is interesting.  I think that the classic funkiness from the yeast is not fully appreciated in our clan.


From my memory (I didn't take notes):


Appearance:
Blue Moon: Orange/amber color, cloudy, but no lingering head.
Ours: Light Orange/medium dark yellow/gold, cloudy, nice thick white head that left lacing on the glass.
Hoe: Light Yellow/Straw colored, cloudy, medium thick head, slight lacing


Smell:
Blue Moon: Orange Fruity
Ours: Less Orange Fruity
Hoe: Spicy/pepper with Orange and Lemon


Taste: 
Blue Moon: Orangy sweet with a drier finish slightly 
Ours: Subdued Orange, sweet, malty
Hoe: Less Orange, peppery


Mouthfeel
Blue: Thin, watery, well carbonated
Ours: Medium bodied fuller than both Hoe and Blue.  Softer carbonation than both Hoe and Blue
Hoe: Medium body, crisp, highly carbonated


Overall
Blue: Tasty, with a full orange flavor, my wife's favorite.
Ours: Fuller but less robust fruit flavors, best head that lasted through the glass, Favorite of everyone except my wife.  More beer like than Blue or Hoe.
Hoe: Traditional yeasty funk, more peppery spice (corriander) than the other beers, not fully appreciated by the group.


All three beers were good summer beers, but I personally liked ours.  The nicest part was the comparison really highlighted the difference in mouthfeel.  A full body and nice head is the essence of beer for me, and while we probably didn't have the technically perfect beer of the group, we (my brother and I) preferred the differences of ours....and that is who we made it for.


We bottle our all grain blonde ale tomorrow, and are working in a watermelon wheat at the same time.  We have never used watermellon, so it should be interesting.