Weekly Beer Focus - Wit/Weizen/Wheat: week of 5/23 - 5/29

Beer and Spirits
#21

Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse
Brewed by Garrett Oliver and Hans-Peter Drexler.
Light golden-amber in color. Intense nose of flowers and spice. On the palate, intense stone fruit/lychee notes on the palate followed by creamy notes and a rich mouthfeel with a touch of bitter hops on the finish.

This has been sitting in my fridge for at least a year, I figured with this being wheat week and it being 94 degrees today the choice was apropos.

#22

Ommegang Witte “Worth the wheat” - Nose shows citrus skin and clove. The palate is full and creamy with notes of vanilla and citrus. It gets noticeably thinner and less expressive as it warms. This is pretty good but definitely needs to be served on the cold side. It’s like a hefeweizen with some spice.

#23

this sounds delicious!

#24

Harpoon UFO Hefe: Unfiltered hefeweizen, cloudier than most ofthe others I’ve tried. A touch darker as well, though still golden in color. The two major scent/taste components in this were a mild banana/honey like flavor, and some spice (clove, other??). A decent beer, but more simple. I feel it is missing the citrus profile (lemon or orange) common in these beers.

Unibroue Blanche de Chambly: Nice medium golden color, more carbonated than the Ommegang I had, but not as much as the Allagash. Very smooth, with a hint of hops present (IMO) but not in a bitter way. Banana and clove are present, with a hint more citrus than the Harpoon, but still not a lot.

I think I did a dis-service drinking these two the night after some good German Hefe’s. I really like the citrus profile and the two German’s had just the right amount. I know I’ve enjoyed the Unibroue more in the past than i did last night. i am going to revisit these at a later date.

#25

Bell’s Oberon: Ohhhh baby. This is what I am talking about. Darker golden color, looks a little like an aged Sauternes. Great fruity/spicy nose, a lot of orange and honey flavors. Someone mentioned coriander in a previous note, I think I get that here. This is a little more substantial of a wheat beer, great depth of flavor. LOVE IT!!

#26

Mission Hefeweizen
Ahhh … not good. I have no plans to ever taste this beer again. This is liquid banana pudding with a little orange peel and coriander. “D”

Do to a busy travel week I tried 2 wits … and they pretty much sucked. My plan was to pick up some real ones but it didn’t happen.

BTW: I think Hoegaarden is a good beer. Although I don’t drink it much anymore I have always thought highly of it. I get so sick of people offering me the tasteless gross “Blue Moon”. I think, “you can buy Hoegaarden at the same store!” And Hoegaarden far exceeds the two beers I had a chance to taste this week.

Jason

#27

My second of the week:

Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier
Pours a clear light amber (as opposed to yesterday’s cloudy tangerine) with a beautiful cotton white frothy head and a constant stream of fine bubbles. Aromas of orange peel, cloves and bread dough are medium strong. In the mouth it’s medium light in body, but the flavors a little more muted, with the bread dough being the one dominant note. Finish is medium.

B

#28

Finishing my Brooklyn tonight but I’ve got growlers of Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout, Summer Solstice, and Capt. Lawrence Double IPA to work through over the weekend. No more wheat beer in the fridge right now.

#29

Good drinking ahead of you man! [welldone.gif]

#30

Blue Moon is good when mixed half and half with Guinness.

#31

Yeh, if we are comparing Blue Moon and Hoegaarden, there is no contest. There is a reason they put the orange slice on the Blue Moon glass.

#32

94 degrees outside
car’s blazing hot from sitting in the sun all day
unplanned 4:00pm stop at a local pub
2 pints of ice cold Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier

‘A+’



Ok, maybe this should have been in the “what are you drinking” thread. But I think of it as a TN describing how a good wheat beer was made great by context. [drinks.gif]

#33

Michelob - “Shock Top” Belgian Witte style
N: floral tones with strong notes of Life cereal, orange, and lemon pith.
B: hazy light orange color – looks a like the Erdinger hefe; thin foamy head; medium-light to medium bodied.
T: bubblegum (Bubble Yum) (orange); thinner than the German hefes we tasted; flavors of lemon and orange dominate; lighter - more fruity/light/watery than the German hefes.

Score: 6.0

#34

The Bruery - Orchard White
Lavender very noticeable on the palate and nose; oatmeal is more noticeable on palate than the nose; cinnamon and cardamom; gingerbread; medium-light to medium bodied. This beer is delicious.

Score: 8.0 - 8.5.

#35

Brian,
I’ll admit that I’m fairly easy to stump with taste and aroma descriptions, and not particularly creative in that regard, either…but Life cereal and orange Bubble Yum!?! [worship.gif]
[snort.gif]

#36

This is probably my 3rd favorite beers from The Bruery. Top score goes to the Rugbrod followed closely by the Humulous Gold.

It’s kinda scary how easy to drink the Orchard White is, though. I like how understated it is, but it remains very flavorful.

#37

I was floored when I walked in to my regular beer place the other day and they had Anderson Valley on tap. I started with the Anderson Valley Summer Solstice last night, it’s darker than the Capt. Lawrence Double IPA! Softer with hints of citrus and spice. Very nice.

#38

Julius Echter Hefe-Weiss.

Pours cloudy brownish-gold with a huge, lumpy head that dissipates relatively quickly. Nose is complex and deep and what I would call typical German hefe–grain, citrus and spice–with just a bit of mustiness. Promising! Mouthfeel is medium-heavy with moderate carbonation. Taste is similar to the head, but somewhat less depth. Could benefit from a bit higher ABV, imo. Barnyard mustiness really begins to come through in the nose as I work through the 1/2L bottle. Finish is mildly dry with citrus bitternes and fairly short. ‘B’

#39

When do we officially end this tasting and choose a new one for next week?

I finally got around to picking up a few things last night that turned out to be pretty darn tasty.

Ommegang “Worth the Wheat” Witte - pretty straight forward, and easy drinking. My tasting notes pretty much mirror that of Cris Wetstone. Although I found it pretty understated even when chilled. This is good, and everything seems to be “in the right place” but nothing really makes me want to run out and buy more. C+

Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier - Again, Jorge kind of said it all in terms of flavor profile here, but I found this to be fantastic and very expressive throughout. It was a perfect balance of sweet grains, soft spices, white pepper, and a touch of citrus. I absolutely loved this beer. Probably one of the best wheat beers I have ever had. flirtysmile A-

Moosbacher Schwarze Weisse - I grabbed this because I had never seen a dark wheat beer before. This has the dark color of a porter, but the light frothy head, nose and flavors all still came through as a typical wheat beer. The one caveat is that instead of citrus there was more of a very, very light coco powder aroma and taste. Interesting and pretty tasty, but I had this after the Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier, so it kind of paled in comparison. I would buy again. B

#40

I would definitely agree with your final assessment.