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

Thread originator Peter Tryba’s store has the cheapest witbier locally - $23/case for Hoegaarden, still a great drink on a hot humid day in the northeast, and there’s been 3 of those days very recently! Blue Moon is such a drop-off and a Coors Wit, and it surprises me still that Heineken USA won’t import De Ridder Wickse Witte into America as InBev could use the competition and it’s a better witbier but I’ve harangued on this ever since the early 2000’s when Heineken made this (bad) business decision.

Today’s Hoegaarden on a cloudy humid day was a perfect glass right before the skies opened, and the kids freaked out so it still has its place in my world.

Beach day tomorrow - Harpoon cans (no glass allowed)! Happy long weekend to all.

I’ll drink my last one tomorrow - The Bruery Orchard White.

PS - I drank my New Belgium Mothership Wit Friday. I know it is not the most complex wit out there, but I just love that beer on a hot day. Fresh and light with a lemon meringue sort of profile. Not much for spice, but delicious and light.

Long, busy week. It took me two nights to polish off one 750ml of Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca!

I found a bottle with a few months age which made a complete difference in flavor profile. When this was fresh, it was a tasty, easy-going Wit. With age, the brett’s tart sour qualities began to show.

Wednesday night, serving 1:
The aromas have a little funky jive to the wheaty orange and clove elements.
The body was fairly smooth and tasty with flavors of grain and orange rind. S’ok, not great.

Saturday night, serving 2:
The sour qualities grew more pronounced after 3 days in the 'fridge. Still easy going and tasty, but not a thrilling bottle.
I’d buy this beer if it were priced closer to $10/750ml, but no thanks at $15.

Not really a witbier either…

I know this is late, but I actually had a Paulaner Hefe Weizen Natural Wheat beer last night. Until 5 minutes ago, I hadn’t read a thing on this thread and had no idea a couple of you have already had this. My bottle actually had a date of 10/09 on it. Here is my spin on it: . It did have a beautiful orange/gold color with a lovely cream colored head. However, I don’t think natural wheat beers are for me. I got the clove, but what was that other scent that I found strange in a beer? Banana! I’m not sure I like that in a beer. Or maybe it’s the wheat. I’ll have to try something other than hefe weizen and find out. Also, I thought the finish was really dry.

I had me some Hoes at the neighbor’s party last night.

I finally got around to tasting some Wheat Beers over the weekend:

Ayinger Brau Weisse - The beer was stale and not at its best. Lots of cloves and very little banana. Dry, stale finish.

Pinkus Hefe-Weizen - The beer was stale to the point of being virtually undrinkable.

SchneiderWeisse Unser Original - The beer was stale and not at its best. Slightly darker than the rest of the beers, with deeper malt flavors to go with the clove, nutmeg, and banana. My son’s favorite.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier - The only relatively fresh beer in the bunch. Clove, banana, nutmeg, slightly grainy, crisp and refreshing. My favorite of the four, but I think I’d rather drink a good Pilsner.

where did you get your bottles, Rick? sounds like you, perhaps, should be looking for a new source.

Brian,

He actually opened them the week of the tasting. [tease.gif]

I don’t think it’s the stores. I only shop at stores that sell my beer, and I look closely at how they treat beer before allowing retailers to sell my beer. I’m generally looking for refrigerated storage or at a minimum, very quick turn-over. These stores are turning their inventory every two to three weeks.

I think it’s the distributors up here, combined with a difficult supply route (either across the Atlantic and then across the country in a truck or across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and up the West Coast). Last year I saw a keg of German beer being delivered that was a year and a half old! I recently tried one of my Pils that was six months old and had been stored under less than optimal conditions. It tasted suspiciously similar to the German Pilsner-style beers we get up here.

that’s horrible!

I got around to drinking a Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier last week and really liked it. Light a refreshing with great balance. Subtle touches of clove spice with creamy citrus. Put together nicely.

Scored 2 bottles of this last week, can’t wait to try it!

I finally got to my Orchard White from the Bruery. Weird…super weird. But that isn’t necessarily a bad statement. Just not what i have experienced before. I was trying with my wife to figure it out and we certainly got flowers, and something else. When i went here and read Brian’s note - I got it - Gingerbread!!

Won’t get to the porters till later in the week.