One New York Life

Estrella Damm Inedit

Brewed by: Damm
Brewed in: Barcelona, Spain
ABV: 4.8% (via The Site That Shall Not Be Named)
Type: Witbier (ditto)

What They Say: Inedit is the first beer specifically created to accompany food. It is born from the conviction that a beer that could be paired with the utmost respect to the best cuisine was necessary. That is its aim and its virtue, and that is what makes Inedit different, special and unique. Inedit is a unique coupage of barley malt and wheat with hop, coriander, orange peel, liquorice, yeast and water.

Website: After selecting “English” from their front page, I couldn’t find the beer in ten seconds. Design fail. Note to Estrella Damm: don’t have your commercial totally overtake the front page so thoroughly that your user can’t even see there’s something underneath it. I needed to use Google to find the Inedit page. As much as I hate the company page, I love this part reserved for the beer. It’s clean and has all the info that I need. It’s all advertising fluff but at least it’s clean advertising fluff.

Why I Picked It: I was shopping in Whole Foods with PLR and this random, wine-looking bottle with no labeling (save for a star) and a packet tied around the neck was sitting amongst the other 750 ml bottles. I looked at it, put it down, then went back to get it. Nothing fancy, I just got caught up in their packaging.

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Presentation: Simple black bottle with just a gold star on the front. It’s tremendously understated design and, normally, I’d mark off for that. But the understated design amongst the crazy designs of Flying Dog and Southern Tier 750s is what made me choose it. So that has to count for something. 4

Originality: The idea of this beer is, apparently, to be wine. Everything about it — the shape of the bottle, the labeling, the understated design — screams wine. Besides that, it’s designed (by their indication) to be consumed with food. While other beers may suggest pairings or recipes their beer could improve, I don’t think any other beer has been marketed specifically to pair with food. 5

Body: I used their serving suggestion — a white wine glass — but I did not take their suggestion to pair with food because, well, I didn’t know what it tasted like. It pours a heifweizeny cloudy amber with a thick head. Heavy lacing. It’s body tends more toward stout than a standard wheat beer with carbonation content leaning toward a Belgian. It’s a sort of a combination of different mouthfeels that, surprisingly, play well together. 7

Taste: This beer is one of the most confusing things I’ve ever consumed. It pours like a wit, looks like a hef, and tastes like a Belgian (style). The yeasty depth, lack of hops, and dry finish screams Belgian. But the refreshing flavor is very wit. With so much going on, though, it fails to be great at anything. It’s a little crispness away from being a real good wit but, at the same time, a little not dry enough to be a good Belgian(style) and not yeasty enough to be a good hef. I… I really don’t know. It’s a pretty good lot of things, but not a great anything. It’s the Bert Blyleven of beers. 5

Efficiency: This is the first time my efficiency formula has been turned on its ear. This beer is hardly efficient as they, admittedly, spent more time making a flavorful beer to pair with food then a strong beer. Really, the flavors here are so intense that the 4.8% ABV is just a sad aftereffect so they could market it as a beer. It’s almost as though I’d have to reverse the score I’d give it since low efficiency is what they wanted as to not dull the tastebuds with alcohol. But, within my own rules, there are plenty of stronger, more unique options available if you want a 750 for the evening. For the same $7.99 I got this 22 oz bottle for, I could have gotten a far more efficient Rogue offering. 4

Versatility: I agree that this would be a tasty beer to pair with food. But really nothing else. The sad part is we’re not yet at the point where we can buy a bottle of beer to replace a white wine for pairing purposes. While I think this would be great with seafood, it’d be great for ME to drink with seafood. It’d be an uphill, and correct, battle to convince someone (women) to pair this with their lemon chicken or their seafood paella. That said, they’re up front in saying it’s not a kickin-around beer — it’s a food pairing beer. They’re right. 4

The Snob Sez: Not great, not terrible. I would give this another chance some night with fish or chicken, but not something for which I’d go out of my way.

Final Score: 29 (of 50) — OK Beer