Brewers Alley Hefeweizen

Brewed by Brewers Alley Restaurant & Brewery
Style: German Hefeweizen
Frederick, Maryland USA

Pretty standard hefeweizen, hit the banana and wheat and lemon scents right. Yeasty and full in the flavor, lightly sweet, lightly sour, lightly acidic, a solid, refreshing hefeweizen, but most breweries these days make this exact same beer. Still, it’s tasty.

Draught, at the brewpub, July 2006. Hazy pale orange colour. Plenty of cloves and vanilla in the aroma. The flavour still has a yeasty fruitiness but is more citric. Like other Brewers Alley beers it seemed to have a quite high level of residual sweetness but that wasn’t a problem here. Nothing spectacular but a decent, sold hefeweizen.

Hefeweizen is generally not one of my top styles, but this one stood out from many I have had. It had a medium yellow color, was very cloudy, and had a small, bubbly white head. The aroma was fruity (especially banana) and some citrus hops, with a good wheat and yeast combination too; it was harder to pick out the vanilla notes. The taste was sweet with a sour-wheat finish. It was very wet and full, but with a somewhat drier, wheaty finish. The mouthfeel was fairly full and carbonation was mild.

Draft at the brewpub, July 2006. An unclear light yellow beer with a rim of white head - surpringly lack of head for a Weizen. The aroma is sweet with strong notes of oranges and light notes of banana. The flavor starts out with very strong banana notes, but then the wheat gains in strength, and towards the end the wheat gives it a dryness, that lasts for a long time.

Cloudy, yellow, not much of a head, kinda looked lifeless, flavor is citrus, spice, some yeast, needs something... yes... more flavor.

From the tap, cloudy and a pale yellow with small but lasting head. Smells of banana, lemon, orange. Tastes the same, with a flavor that somehow falls off in the aftertaste.

draft at brewery. honey-yellow and fairly hazy in appereance. had a small white head, remanants of which lined the inner side of the glass even after I finished it. the aroma and flavor is decidedly fruity and full of banana. I also picked up cloves, bubblegum and vanilla as well as a bread-like quality that made it feel thick to drink. At first sip, there was a shockingly intense burnt acidic taste that I found offensive. After a few more sips, I got used to it and was able to enjoy this medium-bodied richly flavorful beer. However the initial taste greatly flaws the later redeeming characteristics.

Draught @ brewery: Cloudy straw-yellow with a small white head that fades to a small ring that lasts the entire time I take to drink this beer. I smell a bit of light citrus, bubblegum, sweet banana, and lemon. Tase is lightly acidic up front, then some hints of yeast, banana, clove, dough, and a bit of sourness hit me. This has a bit of a sour yeast flavor or maybe a higher alpha acid hops were used for the batch I tried. Nice medium bodied beer, yet full in the mouth, creamy, and lively carbonation. Finishes dry and slightly acidic & crisp.