Breckenridge Agave Wheat

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Wheat Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

Appearance: Pours out a faintly hazed, dark yellow body with a smallish, short-lived, white head, regardless of the steady streams of persistent effervescence. Smell: Mild malted barley and wheat scents with the smallest hints of citrus and spice. I’d say I’m picking up the floral-vegetal tones the agave is laying down, but, in a blind taste test, I may have, in all honesty, missed it entirely. Actually, given some chance to warm (I spent a few minutes trying to compare the tap line-up in front of me versus the menu to see if anything had changed since the last printing), the agave does become a bit more apparent. Taste: Fairly pale malted barley combined with crisp, oh-so crackery wheat along with a light, low level of sweetness. Whereas the aroma left me wondering if I was picked up on the agave or not, the taste has a more clear-cut agave taste, though it’s by no means overbearing because, really, how much flavoring does one need in a light wheat ale? Light hop presence with some hints of spice and lemony citrus and no more than a mild bitterness. Little tastes of wheat and agave preclude the relatively clean, crisp finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium-high carbonation. Drinkability: Formulated with quick, easy consumption in mind, but, thankfully provides just a bit more character with its added agave flavor than some of the other altogether bland AWA’s on the market.

Draught at tap room in Breck. Neon piss color and non-transparent. No head. Very citrus and sweet aroma. Sweet and light hop flavor. No balance. Light bitter lingers.

Bottle courtesy of jbye, thanks Josh. Pours a cloudy brown apricot with a medium sized white head that dies off quickly. Smells sweet with honey, light floral notes, and a bit of musky grain that is a bit off putting. Nice mouthfeel, little bit of fruit, cardboard. Finishes up grainy with a bit of musk melon.

On tap at Jonesy’s (Denver, CO). Pours a hazy golden color with white head. Aroma of banana, honey, clove, spice, light fruit. Flavor is about the same with a little more fruitiness. Light body and light malt finish.

Cloudy yellow. White head. Corn, honey and agave nectar in the aroma. A little lemony too. Flavor is sweet and refreshing. Subtle agave flavors with some light lemon and yeast.

Nice interpretation of the wheat. A little offensive on the initial sip, but then it settles in. Very fruity and corn-like. Worth a try, refreshing. Hazy in appearance, and somewhat darker than most wheats.

THOUGHTS: Very disappointing. Not bad at all, but I was expecting a completely different tasting beer. It smelled nice, but just tasted like any wheat beer. As it warmed there was a little more lime and most likely agave. I think Tequiza was a better use of agave in a beer. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a hazy, dark golden yellow to light orange with a large, white head that mostly diminished and left barely fair lacing. The aroma was wheat, light doughy and cobweb-like yeast, sweet and acidic fruitiness that wasn’t quite lime, so I’m guessing it was the agave. The initial flavor was sweet and acidic; while the finish was rather sweet, lightly bitter and acidic with a short duration. There was wheat, citrus, lime, yeast and most likely agave. The light to medium body was a little syrupy with fizzy carbonation and a light astringent finish. Overall, there wasn’t much too the body.

Pours a hazy amber with a white head. Smells sweet and fruity with some wheat undertones. Tastes grassy and earthy with some tarte undertones. Refreshing.