Cold Spring Honey Almond Weiss

Brewed by Cold Spring Brewery
Style: Wheat Ale
Cold Spring, Minnesota USA

Pale yellow color with a thin white head. Light honey aroma. Slightly malty and sweet with hints of honey, citrus and a bit of hops. A little mild for an unfiltered wheat brew.

12 oz bottle. Pours a cloudy yellow/pale golden color with a lack luster head that has minimal retention and little to no lacing. Aroma is mostly wheat with a touch of honey. Flavor is a slight sweet honey with a touch of nuttiness layer on top of a pretty light bodied wheat beer. This isnt bad by any means. On the adverse, its not something that I would trade my kids for. I like the direction Cold Spring is going with this series of beers but they need some more to them.

Bottle from Keil’s. Pours a slightly hazy golden color. Nose is slightly sweet and grainy. Fairly boring wheat ale. Lightly spiced with a hint of malt.

Aroma is pretty neutral. Not much but some honey and cracked wheat. Appearance is transparent gold. Flavor is a little sweat and bitter, very simple. The palate is thin.

This company proves there is a direct correlation between the quality of the label and the quality of the beer. For some reason, I can’t stand those clear sticky labels. Maybe that has something to do with the beer they hide inside. A lifeless ’’off-hazy’’ golden yellow liquid topped with a small patch of white pond scum. Aroma of yeast, sweet malt, honey and some light almonds, actually not too bad. Taste of almonds, sweet malt, fruit and soap. Some nutty bitterness seeps in as does some astringency.

Found a single of this and how could I not snatch it knowing the quality that this brewery puts out. Upon looking at the prior scores this looks to be an above average effort from the place. A decent looking pour. Cloudy golden color with a tall, lasting off-white head. Sweet aromas of pears, apricots, wheat and marzipan. After awhile some light almond scents sneak in, but still seems sticky. Fairly thin and nearly water feel. Some pale lager notes, mixed with almonds, bread and hints of citrus. Seems to go quickly, which in some ways is a good thing. I do catch a bit of hops bitterness in the linger. Somewhat simple. Certainly not gut wrenching like some of the Gluek products.

This beer sure is the ass of the crafts. Pours hazy yellow orange with a thin, crisp white head. Smells like honey and roasty almonds, some citrus. Sounds good enough but something is not right. It’s pretty much a mess. Medium body, fizzy carbonation.

18-Aug-08 (12-oz bottle: Purchased 16-Aug-08 for $1.29 at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA) Apparently new to the San Diego market, a trio of Cold Spring six-packs was stacked for "quick movement." Certainly an odd decision for this normally fine bottle shop, so good luck with that. Only the Honey Almond Weiss was available as a single-bottle purchase, so that’s all I picked up. The beer pours a hazy, golden-amber color with a very small, filmy, white head that quickly dissipates. Aromas of bread, honey, cheese, socks and cardboard suggest this beer is old, but presumably it’s not. Bready malt base mingles with vague flavors of sweet honey and artificial almond, plus a hint of tartness. The flavor is passable, but certainly doesn’t inspire much enthusiasm for subsequent sips. Maybe it’s the almond flavoring that makes the beer taste cardboardy and old, but that’s the beer’s biggest downfall. Body is light but not watery, carbonation is light-medium, the mouthfeel is smooth and easy, and the slight tartness does help to keep this wheat beer from sitting all fat on the palate. I can’t say I’m a fan of honey or almond in beer, so it’s not surprising I didn’t find this enjoyable, but the beer isn’t awful.