Anderson Valley High Rollers Wheat

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Ale
Boonville, California USA

Bottle shared with blankboy, HogTownHarry & tupalev - courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pale golden colour with a moderate white head. As my tasting buddies have all noted, there was some skunkiness off the top, but it proved to be more of a herbal funkiness once we got our noses around it. Flavour starts with some citrus and sweet honey, a little grainy in the middle, and very herbal in the finish. Quite unlike most wheat beers I’ve had, but enjoyable.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, GregClow & tupalev -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pours a clear pale gold with a good size diminishing foamy white head. Aroma: The last two raters, whom I shared this with, wrote that we thought it was skunky but I didn’t, I knew right away that it was those funky UK hops, along with wheat, citrus and mint (thanks Harry for nailing the mint smell). Flavour has a surprising amount of hops in it for a Wheat beer and that pleases this Hophead. Along with the hops there’s wheat, citrus, mint again and malt -- it’s very refreshing and tasty. Creamy mouthfeel and light bodied. This was a nice surprise and much better then I thought it would be -- good stuff!

Bottle (650ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow and tupalev - my bottle. Poured almost clear (a clear wheat?) pale gold with a large foamy-fluffy white head. After rejecting a "skunky!" verdict we realized this is brewed with a lot of pungent crushed-mint funky hops, lightly resiny, also lightly sweet aroma of fresh-cut timothy, and honey - not much yeast character to it. Flavour starts with light citrus and and some fruit-sweet malt, followed by the balancing herbal hops - it finishes slowly, with some rye grainy bitterness at the end. this is a light-bodied beer, not very lively, somewhat astringent with a tendency toward sourness as it warms. Decent, more hop character than I was expecting.

Thanks to Harry for this bottle, shared with him, blankboy, and GregClow. Odd saaz hop aroma - we thought it was skunky off the bat, but it was actually just quite sharp and eventually revealed lots of mint, pine, and other herbal notes - quite nice actually. Yellow with a foamy white head. Minty wheat taste, very refreshing. Nice lingering hops, mixed with wheat and lemon. Overall, pretty good and a nice surprise, and a good way to clean the palette after the smoke beers.

Pours a hazy orange, minimal head. Light lemony, grassy aroma, slightly sour. Taste is bitter, grainy. Little sweetness, some oxidation present. Finish is slightly metallic. Drinkable.

Pretty good for an american wheat even though im sure this bottle was past its prime. Pours a nice hazy golden with a massive long lasting white head. Aroma is of wheat, light citrus hops, grass, and herbal notes. Grassy flavor with some smooth wheat, herbal hops, and a light bitterness in the end. Ok overall but I need to try this when it is fresh.

(22 oz bottle: $2.99 at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA) I’m at a boring party, so I’m sure glad I brought some beers to rate and my Duvel tulip glass. Hey, when you rate beer, you always have to be prepared! Anyway, this wheat beer is pretty lame. Aromas of wheat malts and stinky feet emanate from the glass, with a very light sourness initially, but it’s almost impossible to detect the sourness after the first few whiffs. The flavor is very light overall, just some mild wheat, light sweetness and a hint of fruitiness. No bitterness whatsoever. Actually, it’s also slightly sour, just like the aroma, but it’s fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The body is very light and pretty watery. Dark gold in color and slightly hazy in appearance, this wheat beer has nice color. The off-white head doesn’t pour to more than a quarter-inch in height and fades to a thin layer, but is easily roused back to life with a quick swirl. It doesn’t taste bad, it just doesn’t taste much like anything, and given the nice color, it’s left me a bit disappointed.

Pale yellow gold color, medium sized fluffy white head. Muted wheat malt aroma with tinges of citrus and floral. Wheaty vein to the flavor, combined with a slight malty sweetness and gentle floral bitterness from the hops. Traces of weizen yeast esters in the finish. Mouthfeel is light and crisp.