Dukes Big Ass Beer (Hefeweizen)

Brewed by Jack Russell Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Ale
Camino, California USA

(33 oz flip-top bottle: $5.99 at BevMo in San Jose, CA) Uhm, I really don’t know where to begin with this beer. Those of us who would actually buy this because we haven’t rated it yet, we’re either stupid or hardcore, or both probably. This is a pretty dreadful wheat beer. The sweet, fruity nose smells like peach juice. That is, until I gave the beer a quick swirl to kick up some head. Whoa, that is some foul-smelling stuff. I’d try to describe the various aromas of plastic, fuel and God’s knows whatever else it smells like, but why bother, let’s just say it smells like Duke’s Big Ass and be done with it. I didn’t think things could get any worse, but amazingly, I was wrong. Taking just a single sip is making my stomach turn. I think it’s supposed to be a coriander flavor, but the base wheat flavor of this beer is so bad, the coriander just makes things even worse. Light in body, very watery in the finish, typical carbonation, but the flavor and especially the aftertaste are so bad, I want to spit this out. Light-golden in color and nearly transparent. The half inch of white head settles to a wide ring, leaving no lacing. One of the worst beers I’ve ever tasted, and I mean that quite literally. A drainpour if ever there was one.

Hazy light amber with a thin white head. Aroma of boiled vegetables. Bananas in mouth, with peppery note. Bad. On tap at brewery, August 2005.

The bottle poured a hazy light amber beverage with a small fizzy white head that was fully diminishing and left no lacing on the glass. The aroma had a moderate malt presence with light notes of bread. There was also a decent hop presence which took the form of citrus-like grapefruit peel. The body was medium but the texture was watery and the carbonation almost flat. The flavor started off slightly sweet and finished about the same. The finish was average in length.

Bottle poured a hazy gold with a minamal head. Aroma of wheat and maybe a little carmel. Flavor was bread with atouch of carmel. Not very good and certainly not a hefe weizwen. It must have come from dukes big ass.

I shoudn’t have expected anything good from a beverage hailing from Duke’s Big Ass. Very sub standard beer. That’s all I remember. Goes great served with whisky and Wrigley’s Spearmint.

I couldn’t pass up a Big Ass Beer, and I love a good hefe. Too bad this wasn’t a good hefe. It had a slight chemical taste that I couldn’t put my finger on, but it wasn’t good. The light smoky/banana flavor was almost lost, but detected in the finish.

There is Beer you drink to get yourself drunk, then there is Beer that you drink to maintain the buzz, and then there is beer you drink to induce vomiting.. That's where this stuff fits. To me this stuff tasted like rancid ketchup poured into a warm bottle of Bush beer. It was promptly poured out.

Sea-foam-like head above a deep golden haze with lively, rising, champagne-like bubbles. Yeasty, doughy nose. Watery texture up front, then turns into a spiky carbonation. Has some carbon dioxide bitterness; papery. Burning acidity; sharp, wild yeast flavors. Sour/citric notes overwhelm the light malts. Not much bitterness to speak of. Finishes dry, but tartness makes my mouth water. Doesn't seem to live up to its name... or style for that matter. Wondering if I had a bad bottle.