Pours a nice, dark ruby-red color.
Subtle sweetness in the smell, but not much else.
Compared to most Christmas Ales I've had in the Pacific Northwest, it's a bit sweet and not as hoppy. However, it is well balanced with a very subtle oak-vanilla flavor at the end. A smidge of roastiness comes through, as well.
Honestly, probably the best winter beer I've had all season.
Most winter beers seem to miss the point by being a re-imagined, over-hoppy IPA. Goose Island has a beer I would say is full-bodied, hearty, and malty - exactly what you want for Christmas. This beer is testament that a big craft brewery can still make good beer. (It also shows why brewmasters should go to brewery school.)
Love that end flavor. It's great. Grab 2 pint bottles at your next trip to the grocery store...or Chicago.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Schneider and Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse (bottle)
This is a collaboration beer between Schneider Weissbier Brewery (Germany) and Brooklyn Brewery (NYC).
Pours a golden wheat color. You can't see through it at all, which is fine because it's a wheat beer.
Smells kind of sourish. For being a dry-hopped beer, I don't smell too much on the hop. Maybe just a little bit of a grassy-honey smell, almost.
First impressions: tastes like a homebrew. Not like that homebrew that a guy brewing for 10 years would make, but a homebrew that would come from your first kit that wasn't sanitized well. Maybe it was the yeast in it, but it has kind of a sour-off flavor, not reminiscent of a wheat beer.
However, as the yeast settles a bit and the beer warms up, the sourness and grassiness becomes less apparent. It becomes drinkable.
Does it have any of the clove, bready, spicy characters I would expect from a good wheat beer? NO.
Do the dry hops help the beer? Probably not. From what I've gathered, you shouldn't dry hop or make a hoppy wheat beer.
Schneider Weissbier, stick to your original recipe. And Garrett Oliver, stick to your original ales.
A disappointment for a collaboration beer. Get a 1/2 pint to try it.
(Disclaimer: this beer was drank in a bottle imported from Germany. It's been sitting in the fridge for a few weeks before opening.)
Pours a golden wheat color. You can't see through it at all, which is fine because it's a wheat beer.
Smells kind of sourish. For being a dry-hopped beer, I don't smell too much on the hop. Maybe just a little bit of a grassy-honey smell, almost.
First impressions: tastes like a homebrew. Not like that homebrew that a guy brewing for 10 years would make, but a homebrew that would come from your first kit that wasn't sanitized well. Maybe it was the yeast in it, but it has kind of a sour-off flavor, not reminiscent of a wheat beer.
However, as the yeast settles a bit and the beer warms up, the sourness and grassiness becomes less apparent. It becomes drinkable.
Does it have any of the clove, bready, spicy characters I would expect from a good wheat beer? NO.
Do the dry hops help the beer? Probably not. From what I've gathered, you shouldn't dry hop or make a hoppy wheat beer.
Schneider Weissbier, stick to your original recipe. And Garrett Oliver, stick to your original ales.
A disappointment for a collaboration beer. Get a 1/2 pint to try it.
(Disclaimer: this beer was drank in a bottle imported from Germany. It's been sitting in the fridge for a few weeks before opening.)
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