Bells Oberon Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Wheat Ale
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Slightly murky yellow. Wheat, lemon, and light citrus on the nose. Flavor is bright and sweet lemon with ginger. Balanced sweetness with slight sour from the lemon presence. Quite enjoyable.

I was surprized to find out this was a wheat ale, the label not giving away any of the ingredients. This has a righteous hopped aroma with a thick red/tan head, a pleasant bitterness followed by a citric aftertaste. No alcohol flavor, just solid refreshment.

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Maybe I got a bad six pack, but after the first two the last bottles made friends with alot of other beers in my refigerator before I finished them off. Tasted like a heavy cloying wit. I’ll try it again sometime and rerate if necessary.

Bottle: Pours a light yellow color with nice head and lacing. Nose of light toasty and hop, some malt and light citrus, faint wheat. The flavor has a nice full body and a solid mouthfeel with more wheat than the nose along with a tangy characteristic that wasn’t there before. Nice vitamin c type finish, light malt sweetness, good body. Nice all around wheat, but no similarities with the german counterpart.

Bottled at the DC gathering. I was disappointed with this one. perhaps it was always going to suffer in comparison with all the big, beefy beers I had been tasting before it. It’s quite fruity (melons in there somewhere) but I found it rather run of the mill. I know it’s the style but, without the banana esters of German wheat or the spices of a Belgian, I struggled to find much of interest. I’m sure it would be fine as a summer quaffer and may have impressed more in less exalted company.

Complex aroma of wheat and malt. Golden yellow color with small particles, medium white head. Refreshing light flavor with good combination of bitter and sweet. Good summer beer.

Thanks to beer handy for this. This is my first new Bell’s style in a while, and I’m psyched about that. Unique aroma of hopcit, fruit, malt, some corn flakes, grapefruit, and bread. Pours very turbid orange, looking like a glass of extra-pulped orange juice. Man, this taste is complex, with malt, huge bread, varying levels of citrus including grapefruit, orange, and some banana and spices. Smooth palate, but not as firm as the color of the beer would suggest. As it warmed, I noticed more breadiness and black pepper. This is a very good wheat beer.

A golden ale with a thin white head, A rather sweet caramel malt aroma, a bit buttery. In mouth, crisp and caramelly malt with light saaz hops, a bit buttery. Medium bodied. On tap at Tutu Tango, April 10 2009.