Let's get right down to "business"

Rather than worrying about all the introductory niceties , I'll kick things off with a review and commentary.

Call this "Best of the Year So Far." Should be interesting how that gets bounced around.

The beer in question is Long Trail Brewing's Belgian White, a beer so new that my local package stores do not have it yet.

Fortunately, I live 90 minutes from the Bridgewater Corners, Vt., brewery and its very spiffy brew pub, and I have been there twice in the last 10 days sampling it and bringing a couple of 12-packs home.

So I have had it on draft and in the bottle, and I am really enjoying it.

I am also fascinated that Long Trail has jumped in so late in the game. The brewery is listing this its summer seasonal, but like many brewers, it it's a hit, Long Trail will make it permanent, as it did with Blackbeary Wheat.

For the record, Belgian Whites -- or witbiers -- are wheat beers that are unfiltered and therefore cloudy. The look is different, but the taste is comfortable, and they are a good way to transition to craft beers.

Coors knew this years ago when it came out with one of the first mass-market Belgian Whites -- Blue Moon -- which has spawned a number of other Coors' specialty brews. Anheuser-Busch has recently jumped in with Shock Top, one of its craft-style beers. Allagash in Portland, Maine, has long been a craft leader in this style with its Allagash White. Many folks are also drinking Hoegaarden's Original White Ale, an actual Belgian of all things.

The Long Trail pours the requisite hazy yellow – but not too hazy or too yellow, and has a thin white head and a light nose. The taste takes longer than you’d expect to develop, but it’s extremely easy to drink, and the spice – coriander that’s ground freshly at the brewery – comes through clearly after several seconds. It also has some of the traditional fruit tastes associated with a wheat beer, including a light flavor of banana, but it clearly establishes its own place among American Belgian Whites against the three previously mentioned beers, as well as Sam Adams White Ale and Saranac Belgian White.

The taste is reminiscent of a custard topped with spices, although those not used to the style might catch it as a little sour. It’s clearly a session beer. You could knock down three or four of these on a summer afternoon, and not realize it. Yet, it’s the kind of beer you savor while you drink it.

It’s equally good on tap and from the bottle, although the coriander is even sharper on tap.