Arcadia Whitsun
Brewed in the style of a mid-19th century English Festival Ale, this unfiltered wheat beer displays a translucent orange color topped with a creamy, white head. Wheat enhances the mouthfeel of the beer and produces pleasant bread-like notes while Michigan honey provides a caramelized sweetness in the flavor profile. This beer is spiced with orange peel and coriander and small amounts of three hop varieties pleasantly counterbalances the sweetness.
3.1
380 reviews
, United States
Community reviews
I’ve never been a fan of pale wheat ales because they tend to be pretty bland and boring. That’s understandable for a fairly light beer with a simple palette. But in the case of Arcadia Whitsun it’s a beer that should rather complex considering its ingredients and potency. This is disappointing.
I poured a 12oz can into a weizen glass. There was no freshness date and it cost $2.70 ($0.23 per ounce).
Appearance: Dark orange hue; very cloudy but carbonation can be seen rising quickly within. Pours to a small, white, soapy head which quickly and completely evaporates without any lacing.
Smell: Very mild orange juice smell. No yeast esters or spices.
Taste: There’s a difference between bad and boring and this beer is a good example of the latter. There’s nothing inherently off about this palette, but there’s an obvious lack of appeal. This tastes like a homebrew extract kit: direct, simple and a bit twangy. I do not pick up on the coriander supposedly contained within but I do get some orange flavor on the back end. Though it’s actually a bit of a juicy flavor rather than orangepeel spice. This beer is not particularly sweet despite the use of honey (which I’m sure was mostly gobbled up by the yeast to boost the ABV and does little for the taste). No hop bitterness or flavor to speak of nor malt distinctiveness for that matter. Shrug.
Drinkability: I was surprised to see 6.2% ABV on the label. This is clearly a summer seasonal – why such a high alcohol content? For that weight, I want way more complexity than what I’m getting here. And the delivery itself is underwhelming: tepid body from beginning to end with a bit of a watery sensation and texture. For such relatively low alcohol, I can actually taste it and feel a warming sensation. This is not my idea of a summer beer.
Score: 4/10
Draft at walnut grove. Dark golden color with medium head that stayed. Honey notes with some coriander and spice. Subtle spice notes. Slight lemon and orange slice notes. Nice texture. Good stuff.
Can at home. A full bodied, viscous wheat ale. Kinda bright orange pour. Aroma is wheat and orange. Bready with heavy malts, wheat bread, orange zest. Dry finish. Meh.
Tastes a little like tangerine and sun. Wheat was Belgium style with light American flavor. Bottle
Aroma is wheat/wheat bread and mild notes of fruit and spices. The flavor is wheat/wheat bread, fruit, light citrus and a smooth finish.
Wheat ale. Easy to drink. Tastes like orange peelings. Not much head. Kinda astringent not bad.
This beer was average start to finish. Nothing great to say about it. Would drink again though.
For a Wit it is very heavy with little head or lacing. Pour is like a apple cider color. Aroma is as of a sour ale. Very bland astringent taste. Pass.
Bottle to Hefe glass. Orange peel and malt sweetness on the nose. Bright wheat, orange, sweetness from the honey in the taste. Big carbonation throughout. Not the best whit but damn drinkable.
Draft at the NYC craft beer festival. Cloudy yellow orang color with a nice wheaty drink ability. Very good
Orange pour from bottle at home. This is super carbonated - like drinking orange sprite. Fruity and wheaty. Just what I hate.
Aroma is definitely a wheat, slight coriander, sweet malt. Appearance is wheat, ridiculous head on a pour that I didn’t think was overly aggressive. Taste is...well, wheat, then something sweet I can’t put my finger on. Probably coriander but it’s so light that it’s hard to identify. Mouthfeel is pretty carbonated, but oddly sticky. Overall...never been a fan of the style so it’s hard to give it a fair rating. At least it doesn’t taste like every other Arcadia beer.
Julie says it is Very malty but Julie says it. Does not taste like a smoked wit. Julie gives it a3
bottle. Poured gold with fine sediment at the bottom of the bottle, thinning white head. Subdued bready aroma. Light body, creamy almost thick mouthfeel with low bitterness. Flavour of bready malts, sweet orange note with just a touch of spice.
12oz bottle from Spirits Manahawkin. Poured a lighter orange/brown body with a smaller fizzy off white head that quickly and totaly disipates. Aroma is not good, medicinal and dusty with a touch of green apple and vanilla candle. Fizzy carbonation dominates the body on this one with perhaps a medium mouthfeel and a quicker fading aftertaste. Flavor of old bread, earth, dough, tea. Blah.
pure rubbish. overly fruity and sweet. you have to really like saisons to enjoy this one or a woman. had a bottle pour at home. pours orange with a white head. came out of a beer of the month, and what a poor choice by those guys.
Can to pint. Orange with a little bit of head. Smells and tastes sweet and wheaty. Average on the palate.
Pours out as a flat, murky orange, with minimal to zero head. Citrus orange aroma and taste, Light bodied wheat ale where the citrus flavor dominates. Summer refresher nothing more, nothing less.
pours hazy if not cloudy golden orange with a nice orange cap, some retention and lacing. doughy caramel, sweetish spicy cereals, phenols, fruitiness - oranges, wheat spiciness, bitter herbs and other spices - dill upfront, shy coriander in this miscellaneous spicy concoction, very lightly tart small fruits. moderately low carbonation, light body, slightly astringent and assertive herbal-grassy-very peppery but also citrusy finish.
Bottle. Nose is extremely sweet and candyish, honeyed, orange, citric; pours cloudy golden with extremely heavy carbonation and a fizzy cola head. Taste is actually not all that sweet, even off-dry; some earthy and anise-leaning character (I’d say it’s a phenol) with some strong-starting alcohol, orange jam, strong honey. Wheat, minerals, spice, very light caramel. Medium-full body, sting of tartness and light burn on the tongue, everywhere an assault. I like the bready bit toward the end, but that’s also washed out a bit by the phenols. Actually really much more fun to drink than I’ve let on, has some rich spirit undertones and stands up against other foods and drinks.
Light. Refreshing. Smooth. Sweet. Slightly wheaty with a bit of citrus. A malty finish.
Draft. Pours an orange color. Aroma and taste are citrus and wheat. Light bodied and quite refreshing.
On tap poured into a shaker. Aromas of orange, cereal and wheat, and a light bit of clove. The appearance is a cloudy orange body with a very thin white ring that doesn’t leave any lace. The beer is a medium sweet with a light bitter. It has a flat, light, creamy carbonation with a medium body and a light, slick texture. A strong spicy (clove) note comes through in the finish with a bit of an orange peel. The aftertaste is a dry spicy note. I’m a bit suspicious that they may have poured me a Blue Moon, but I have no proof.
Copper pour with a thin tan head. Aroma is almost like a honey mead. flavor is mostly honey with some orange peel and other citrus notes. Some light spice towards the finish honey fades quickly. Interesting take on the style.
High-quality, dense, and nicely layered, but too much hops (and too little of the "lightly toasted caramel"), to say the least.
Can shared. Pours a medium almost unfiltered orange color with white head. Nice wheat and malt aroma with a touch of citrus. The flavor is wheat and orange. Decent flavor and body. Overall pretty decent. Great summer beer.
12oz can to shaker. Cloudy Orange. Aroma of wheat and a little fruit. Tastes a bit orangey with some definite honey present.
Poured from 12 oz. bottle in Manistique, VA.
Clear, bright amber-orange with a small ivory head and very good lacing.
Aroma of caramel, orange, wheat, coriander, yeast and lemon.
Taste of coriander, orange, wheat, caramel, mild floral hops and yeast with a lemony finish.
Medium/light body and medium/high carbonation.
Bottle - kind of a dark plum look with sediment floating around in it and next to no head. Has a dark fruit flavor to it with some orange peel and also malty.
Had the beer in bottle AND can, but finally reviewing after having cask conditioned at Slow’s in Detroit. Opaque brownish-caramel color. Great lacing. Thick, rich mouthfeel. Notes of yeast, candi sugar, some citrus. If you can get this from a firkin, do it.