Magic Hat Fat Angel and Belgian Wit, also Widmer hefeweizen

From BEER_webalbum

Beer Advocate (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/96/295/?sort=topr&start=0) seems to like this cold one, whereas I think it's no better than fair-to-middlin. I have so far been mostly un-impressed by Magic Hat, though I admit to being a little impressed by their website (http://www.magichat.net), which has a good amount of information in a well organized flash format (if you like flash formats...)
Anyway, this is a darker form of pale ale, maybe with a slightly more German feel. The hoppiness makes it feel like a good German, but then on the back of the tongue and after the initial taste it turns to a weird fruitiness that isn't particularly pleasant.

It's not that much better than Widmer hefeweizen. Apparently, Widmer is the original American Hefeweizen. Besides that, it's pretty unimpressive. Beer Advocate (finally) agrees with me: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/8/17 and one of the Allstroms wrote about it in some detail: http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/684 . I like this quote: "... “Garnish with lemon to enhance the beer’s natural citrus flavor,” this should read: “Garnish with lemon to enhance the beer’s natural blandness.” Sorry, Widmers, but if your beer needs lemon garnish enhancement, you’re doing something wrong." In Widmer's defense, it's a cheap beer available at concerts. I had a 22oz cup of this cheap and relatively boring cold one at the Wilco concert last night (Bank of America Pavilion) and also at the Orpheum, and it's better than Harpoon IPA, Bud Light, or Coors light. So, albeit not a great beer, with a lemon at a concert, it's not terrible.

I can say with full confidence that the "Belgian Wit," which I tried one time after a quite a few cold ones at the American Beer Fest and then once when Jeff got it at Bukowski's, that it totally sucks ass. This is what I'd imagine Boston Beer Works would do with this style, or maybe a failed homebrew attempt. 2 BeerAdvocate Reviewers don't hate it, and in fact kinda like it (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/96/36770). Maybe I'm a snob, but it sucked when I tried it on tap at two different places. Anyway, I suggest never buying it ever.