Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: Weizen Bock
Brooklyn, New York USA

I hope I’m rating the correct one - I sampled this at the 2007 Brewgrass festival and the tap handle cleary said "Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse" Anyway, Really nice aroma, very spicy and clovey and banana-y and even a touch of rosemary? Maybe? Plenty flavorful, too - very yeasty, and also spicy and fruity, and a nice dry finish. For a large beer, it’s surprisingly light on the tounge, kind of like a 300 pound guy who is a surprisingly good dancer.

Growler - hazy light gold beer, with a soapy, large-bubbled head - the aroma explodes with american hops, but once your nose adjusts, there are complex notes of clove, lemon, and strong herbal notes (mostly thyme and rosemary) - the flavor progresses in much the same way - strong, pine and citrus american hop flavors up front, coupling well with your standard wheat beer flavors - then, more complex notes of thyme, lime leaves, peppery qualities - light sweetness near the finish, with some pineapple and orange - herbal notes and hop bitterness linger in the finish - the alcohol becomes a bit too apparent at the end, but the warming character it brings fits the herbal qualities of the beer - a very unique and tasty brew, with a bit more "character" than it’s companion.

A golden weizen with a super thick lacing white head. A pleasant aroma of resinous hops with herbal catnip notes, fragrant and enticing. In mouth, a hoppy and silky hybrid with intense pinhey hops, menthol, warming alcohol. Rich, smooth and silky. Classy. Thanks Karl, Shared with Probstk, April 2 2009.

Bottle. Medium sized white fizzy head with good retention, cloudy straw body, and a ring of lacing. The aroma is sweet, clove, banana, spicy, citrus hops. The flavor is sweet, clove, spicy, banana, mango, citrus hops, and mildly bitter. The mouthfeel is tingly and this is a medium bodied beer. Overall, a very balanced aroma/flavor, worthy of a try, and a beer I would drink again. More please!

Initial tropical fruit and citrus hop notes are very strong but once that blows off, the yeasty phenolics of clove and banana are nicely apparent in the aroma. Clear and very bubbly deep orange-blonde body is topped by a generous and constantly replenishing, fine bubbled white head that sticks to the sides of the glass. Hop flavours of tropical fruit are strong and blend in with the banana and spice notes but there is also a very pleasant underlying pastry-dough-like sweetness. Bitterness is quite pronounced but not at all over the top. Medium-light body has very strong bubbly effervescence that lasts throughout. Very refreshing on an uncharacteristically hot and humid Vancouver afternoon. I could see this really hitting the spot in the muggy summer months in the North-East. Weizen glass. Fridge temperature. Bottle (Brewery Creek, Jun-08).

Golden yellow with small but long lasting head. Thin but in a good refreshing way. Spicy and bitter with a very dry finish. Perfect.

In short: A fruity, sweet and hoppy wheat beer. Hugely drinkable.
How: Bottle 750ml, consumed fresh a few days after purchase (side by side with sister Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse)
The look: Cloudy dark yellow body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: Copy-and-paste of Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse description that I had side by side. About all of it applies to Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse too. Nose of lemon pie and toasted wheat. Taste has a lot of hay, flavours of crusty pie, banana cake and lemon. A little sugary. Strong spicy hops presence, with dry bitterness and white pepper sensation. Some dry herbs. Nice acidic touch in the finish. Little to no alcohol presence. Body is a little fluffy. Carbonation is very aggressive/tickling and it suits the beer just fine. Feeling of a sweetened Berliner Weisse on steroids. Compared to Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse: a stronger hop bite hides the residual sugar in the finish better. A bit more wheaty and a touch of alfalfa sprouts. Overall a little dryer than its German sister and a tiny bit more enjoyable. Great beer. Nice german influence at work here. That cooperation with Brooklyn Brewery is a good example of Germany pushing forward their ideas on other countries, and it’s a much better approach than the one they took in the late 30’s early 40’s.

C&C 750. Props for a very classy looking label and bottle. Hazy yellow with a huge white head. Lots of carbonation bubbles. Spicy, sweet banana nose, clove and white pepper, light bubblegum. Beautiful sheet of white lace. Wheaty and hoppy flavors dominate - grass, lemon and grapefruit over wheat, spicy clove and pepper, mild banana. Medium body, satiny and bouncy all at once. Sweet grass, apricot and orange finish. Many of these crossover type experiments don’t work, but this one sure as hell does - well done!