whatchudrinkin?

What is a wheat wine? What should it taste like? 

I picked up Boulevard Brewing’s Harvest Dance on a whim. I was expecting a strong hefeweizen thing. Bananas and cloves and stuff. The bottle mentions french oak, but all I tasted was the citra hops. The big, fruity hops definitely overwhelmed any mellow oak flavors. I’m not sure what Boulevard had in mind making this beer, but it tastes more like a double IPA crossed with a wheat beer. The spicy wheat flavor is present — and somewhat limey — but overshadowed. Harvest Dance isn’t anything. It’s just an amalgam of ingredients, messy, and almost boring. Not a great introduction to Boulevard Brewing.

Weihenstephan only seems to make wheat beers. I am sure they brew plenty, but I’ve only ever had their hefeweizen and now the dunkelweizen. It’s got the bananas of the hefeweizen, but with less cough medicine and spice. Instead of cloves the dunkel has toasted wheat bread. The feel is full but not heavy, clean but not quite crisp. It’s a pretty good beer.

This is not a wheat ale. A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ is an IPA in disguise. A juicy, hop filled wheat ale. This is the first truly tropical IPA I’ve tasted. It’s a tingly beer. Fresh and bright, like the lemon lime fruit punch mom used to make. Half fruit punch, half 7up.

HELL or HIGH WATERMELON?

It just smells of wheat.

Wheat, wheat, wheat.

No fruit, just flour.

Oh, that’s watermelon.

That makes sense.

I get it.

Makes sense, but not really great.

Sort of a novelty.

I get it, but I am not into it.

A bit too sweet.

A bit yeasty.

Chris’s Summer Delight is the July brewer’s share from Full Sail Brewing. I have only had a few Berliner-weiss beers, like three. It’s a weird style. Mostly bready, mostly wheaty, with a hint of tart acid. Summer Delight is like a weak wheat beer with a squeeze of lime.

Oh god! Is this a Bud Light Lime in disguise?

Don De Dieu is a wheat tripel. I’m not sure what that means, but that’s what it says. The taste is really similar to La Fin Du Monde. Fresh bread, cinnamon and cloves on the nose. Lots of warm spice in the finish. There was even a hint of hop flavor, some green citrus hops. The major difference was a bit of tang in Don De Dieu. A hint of sourness came through. I don’t know if that was infection or a difference in the yeast. Maybe it was the wheat part of wheat tripel. It wasn’t bad, it really added a new dimension I found lacking in La Fin Du Monde. 

I’ve been meaning to revisit dark wheat beers for months. For months. I loved the New Belgium Dunkel Weiss, but I never picked up anything else. So last time I was looking for new beers I picked up this Franziskaner Dunkel. It wasn’t nearly as sweet or banana flavored. This dunkel was more like a peanut butter and banana sandwich on toasted wheat bread. That sounds good, but it’s kind of watery like the sandwich was left in a puddle on the counter. Terrible metaphor, but I can’t abandon it now. There is a hint of medicinal, phenol flavors and a crisp finish. 

Look at that head! Eventually, it settle down to a manageable size, but I drank a lot of bubbles. Vitus is Weihenstephan’s weizenbock or a strong hefeweizen or wheat beer. It’s like their Hefeweissbier with some more alcohol. Vitus smells like bananas after they’ve been soaking in banana liqueur, and tastes like bread and vodka. This is not what I was expecting, but it’s a good preparation for going to Germany in April.