Midnight Sun Old Whiskers

I definitely needed a change of pace, and it has been awhile since I’ve had a hefe, so this really hit the spot. This beer features 50% 2-row Pale and 50% wheat malts, but they don’t tell you what hops are used.

Stats:
Hefeweizen. 5.0% ABV. Alaska.

Cloudy yellow-orange color. Nice, fluffy, white head.

Lovely nose. Very fruity with a banana and orange coming through, and of course some wheat and yeast.

Mouthfeel is pretty nice. On the light side, but still has some body.

Nice banana, clove, and orange flavor here which transforms into apple, wheat and yeast flavors.

Pretty delicious beer. It’s got those nice fruity esters balanced with the wheat. Just what I needed as a little pick-me-up. 89 points.

Beer Club 9/10/11 Wheats

Yesterday, we had our second beer club meeting. This is really the first official one, as the last one was more of a get-together. Originally, we were going to do Oktoberfest, but considering it’s been so hot here recently, I thought it would be a good idea to do something more refreshing. I also thought wheats would end up being a big hit. They tend to be easy on the palate, and a lot of people seem to love them. I didn’t have much of a focus here, I just wanted to get a large selection of wheat beers to showcase how many different types there are. I ended up getting 3 German hefe’s, 1 American hefe, 2 witbiers, and a weizen doppelbock.

The Weihenstephaner was a huge hit. It was our first beer, but everyone seemed to love this one. It was all our favorite of the hefe’s. It had lots of flavor, and was nicely balanced.

After the first beer, this one was a bit of a let down. It was much lighter in flavor, and we found ourselves really just wanting to drink more of the last one.

The Brau-Weisse was actually a bit of a let down as well. You know how much I love Ayinger, but it was a bit lighter than the Weihenstephaner, but it was a good beer. I just rated this a 90 point beer the other day, and I’m still pretty high on it, but you could definitely see how much lighter it was.

After the Ayinger we had the Sierra Nevada Kellerweis. Apparently, I forgot to take a photo of this beer. I’ve been a huge fan of this beer in the past, and I thought it showed really well. It didn’t seem to be much of hit for the rest of the club, though. I found this beer to be a bit more lager-like than the other wheats.

Next up, we had a dunkel to try. I was really curious to know what people thought of this beer. I wasn’t a big fan of it when I had it. But I thought the huge ester profile would go over well, and it did. I was actually a bit surprised, because the huge ester profile that I noted in my review, didn’t seem to be as prominent during the tasting.

Next, we tried the Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue. Apparently, I also forgot to take a pic of this one too. Most everyone seemed to like this wit well enough, but didn’t seem to really impress anyone that much.

The Two Jokers from Boulevard was an interesting beer. This beer was considerably more tart than the rest of the beers, and people found the acidity to be too much. It was noted that it would be great with food, especially cheese, but by itself wasn’t well-liked.

I was really excited to try this beer. I was also excited, because this isn’t your normal wheat beer and I wanted people to see just how different a wheat beer can be. This was probably the biggest hit of the night. The dark fruits and sweetness really appealed to everyone. The higher ABV probably helped, as well. After this, Jackie fell asleep, as you can see.

Ayinger Brau-Weisse

I love me some Ayinger. A couple of my favorite beers of all time come from this brewery, yet somehow, I’ve managed to never have this one. Time to rectify. This is their normal hefeweizen or “helles” as they call it. If you are still getting some 80 degree weather like we are in Seattle, then this should be up your alley.

Stats:
Hefeweizen. 5.1% ABV. 13 IBUs. Germany.

Yellow color and it’s completely hazy. Can’t see through it.

Amazing nose. Lots of wheat and yeast with this amazing lemon lime thing. It’s got a ton of tropical fruits. Just smells fantastic.

Mouthfeel is light to medium body with highish carbonation.

Wheat and yeast, a hint of pencil lead, lemon, spice cabinet. Does seem to get a hair watered down in the mid-palate. Amazing length and finish with a honey and baked apricot.

Ayinger is in my top 5 breweries, and this beer is another good reason why. Just delicious and a perfect Summer beer. Buy. 90 points.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis

This is a re-review of this beer. It showed up in my house, so I thought I’d give it another go. And it goes with my theme of German style wheat beers. Keller means “cellar” in German apparently, in this open-fermented hefeweizen. According to Sierra Nevada, this is one of only a few hefeweizens brewed this way in the US. This beer features 2-row Pale, Wheat, and Munich malts with Perle or Sterling hops. I’m excited to give this another go.

Stats:
German Hefeweizen. 4.8% ABV. 15 IBUs. California.

It’s a beautiful bright yellow color, and of course, very cloudy. Head doesn’t last.

Definitely some phenols coming through on the nose with a heavy banana aroma. You get some tropical fruits, clove, wheat, and yeast. Lovely nose.

Mouthfeel is nice and crisp with a light body, but this is amazingly drinkable.

The palate is just like the nose. Lots of tropical fruit, heavy banana, some clove, hint of tartness, with a hop bitter finish with some candy banana.

Far from my favorite Sierra Nevada, but quite a good beer. I don’t think Sierra Nevada has ever made a bad one. I’m sticking with my initial review. 91 points.

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

I picked up a couple German wheat beers today. I love these beers, especially in the Summer. They’re nice and refreshing. This is a classic by Paulaner, but they don’t get into a whole lot of details about the beer on their website, but according to a reliable source (ie. someone that knows a lot more about beer than me) says the malts are wheat, Pils, Munich, and a bit of Crystal.

Stats:
Hefeweizen. 5.5% ABV. Germany. Best Before 05/12.

Nice dark yellow color, and it’s super cloudy. Great head on this.

The nose is exactly what I’d expect. It’s wheaty, fruity, and yeasty. I love the baked apples that I get.

Fairly high carbonation in a low to medium bodied beer.

Lots of wheat and yeast flavor fill the palate. I do get a slight off-balance and metallic flavor probably from an old bottle. There’s a lot of flavor on the palate until the backend where it actually rolls off the palate, and leaves nothing more than a hint on the finish.

Tasty brew. If you are into wheat beers, and you havn’t been drinking the German classics than you are doing it wrong. This beer would be better if it was a little fresher, I think, but it’s still pretty darn good. 87 points.

Hale’s El Jefe Weizen

This is Hale’s hefe. It took me a while to “get” the name. Jefe weizen, get it? I have nothing else to say about this beer. You can blame Hale’s terrible website for that.

Stats:
Hefeweizen. 4.5% ABV. Washington.

Orange honey colored with lots of sediment. The bottom sludge is almost black and falls to the bottom of the glass.

Great nose. Lots of wheat, honey, yeast, and just a ton of light fruit. It also has this floral fragrance type of thing going on. I could smell this all day, just fantastic.

Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, and a little bit too light for me.

Honey hits the palate first with lots of wheat and yeast. Tons of apples, brown sugar, apricots, peaches, pineapple, and just lots of other fruits, and a hint of tobacco on the finish.

This is worth a taste if you can get it. Nice flavor, nicer nose. Nice sessioner if you are looking for a wheat. It’s not German, but it’s tasty. 88 points.

Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen

Speaking of classic Washington beers, here’s another in that category. In my opinion, this is one of the most important gateway beers around. I started with it, and a lot of people that I know started with it. It’s a hefe that’s very easy on the palate. Pyramid is similar to the Redhook brand. They are far from an exciting craft brand, and you can find them everywhere. They’ve also been doing a lot of rebranding recently. They changed the name of their hefe to Haywire, and changed all their labelling. Personally, I hate their labels. This beer features 2-row Pale, Caramel and malted wheat with Nugget and Liberty hops.

Stats:
American Hefeweizen. 5.2% ABV. Washington.

Yellow orange color with a nice little head. Very hazy beer.

Nice hefe nose with a lot of wheat, yeast, and citrus coming through. Orange, banana, strawberry with some cloves and spices.

Medium bodied with highish carbonation.

Wheat with a ton of orange and banana that transition to spices and wet rock (seriously, go lick a rock).

Very straight forward hefe, but nothing to shy away from. Great session and summer beer as well. 87 points.

Franziskaner Hefe-weisse

I don’t know why foreign breweries always have the worst websites. No information about this beer on their website. But I picked this beer up because I really loved the dunkelweiss they make, and I’m hoping this one is just as good.

Stats:
Hefeweizen. 5.0% ABV. Germany.

Amber in color with a nice white head and a ton of sediment.

The nose is wheaty and fruity. You get that wheat nose, but with a ton of oranges, pineapple, apples, and pears. There is some nice spices in here as well. Cinnamon comes through with some cloves. Quite a nice nose.

The mouth feel is slightly light and highly carbonated.

Lots of fruit up front with some yeast and wheat. It gets a little bit light on the mid palate, but ends with some nice spice and yeast flavor that I actually really like.

Pretty decent stuff, and great summer beer. Check this one out if you can find it. 88 points

Grieskirchner Weisse

The label call this a “white beer”, but I was corrected by Tiffany Adamowski of 99 Bottles that this is, in fact, a hefe. I couldn’t find much information on this one, and only 3 reviews on BA.

Stats:
Hefeweizen. 5.1% ABV. Austria.

Very golden yellow color with a lot of haziness and not much head.

The nose smells exactly like apples. This is like apple cider, it’s crazy. Pears and lemons also come through, with a bit of yeast, but man I love that apple smell.

Light to medium bodied with lower carbonation actually.

Apples, pears, yeast, lemon are really the only flavors coming through here. And it really kind of dies off at the end, and left with an almost tap-water taste.

Not a long description on this one, it’s fairly straight-forward and basic. I do enjoy it though, it just hits my palate right and is a great easy-drinker, so I’d recommend it. 85 points.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis

Relatively new in Sierra Nevada’s year-round line-up is their Hefeweizen. They use the traditional method of open fermentation, which is labor intensive and rare in the US. This beer features Two-row Pale, Wheat, and Munich malts with Perle and Sterling hops.

Stats:
Hefeweizen. 4.8% ABV. 15 IBUs. California.

Golden colored, hazy looking with a soft, bright white head with big bubbles.

Very aromatic nose. A little bit wheaty, and a ton of fruit. I get lots of lemon, bananas, pears, oranges, etc. And it’s a bit yeasty.

Medium bodied with highish carbonation, good mouthfeel.

The palate is similar to the nose, very fruity on the initial attack and midpalate. Lemons, apples, brown sugar, bananas, and more. It finishes with a little bit of a rubbery component, with lots of apples, and that nice yeastyness.

I love this beer. So crisp and clean, with a ton of flavor and good complexity. This should be your new session and summer beer. 91 points.