Fire Station 5 Hook & Ladder Hefeweisen

Yet another in a long line of godawful american wheat beers that I was duped into drinking in my younger years. "King of wheat beers", my ass.

Medium amber, golden color. Sweet yeasty notes in the aroma. Pale dry wheat flavor. Should have a crisp mouthfeel. This is bland, no real spice notes until the end. Well carbonated but too clean. Dont know what this beer is trying to be.

2009 Bottle - Pours like no wheat beer should...looks like a Coors, transparent and heady...aroma is citric and light grainy, light malt...flavour is a little better, with a cereal grittyness and bit of hops, but has a burnt plastic bitterness as well that lingers...bad fucken beer...bad...

fruity smell like oranges or ruby red grapefruit. cloudy, but has the color of watered down apple juice. not very appealing looking. pours with moderate head. tastes wheaty and a little bitter. faint cheap taste in the background that stays longer than I’d like but leaves. feels gritty and highly carbonated. overall, the beer is fairly decent, but ultimately isn’t very satisfying.

yellow with a slight amber tint. a little fruit aroma, but some unpleasant chemical smell too, maybe sulfur. thin and watery with a little yeast and a lot of wheat.

Bottle. A disappointing brew. I tried this while on vacation in Arizona. Muddy complexion and unimpressive flavors. I added an orange slice to give the "citrus" notes a little boost. Overall, a thin (no spices to speak of) and bland. I would have given it a poorer rating, but the orange slice helped give the beer some character.

Stu Stuart of Belgian Beer Me! told me not to get too hung up on the particular style of a beer. I believe it to be good advice. If the label states it to be a porter but it is really more like a stout, and I thoroughly enjoy it, then does it really matter that the label states that it is a porter? Probably not. That is one of the problems with Fire Station 5’s Fire Hydrant Hefeweisen, however. The term "hefeweisen" conjures up an image, an aroma, and a flavor. I expect it to be unfiltered and hazy, with notes of both wheat and citrus. The pour delivers an ale that is mostly clear. The bottle claims that it is unfiltered, but it appears to be thoroughly, even meticulously, filtered. The body is clear yellow, capped by a large white head for a few brief moments. There is almost no lacing to speak of. The aroma and flavor are both of wheat and lemon. The flavor also has a bit of graham cracker hidden within. Then, pulses of alcohol and metal unexpectedly punctuate the flavor at irregular intervals. This is completely different from other hefeweisens I have had. It was definitely not what I expected. The bottled claims it to be a hefeweisen and RateBeer claims it to be a wheat ale. I claim it to be neither. My recommendation it to pass on this one.

Pours from 12 oz bottle somewhat hazy yellow, forming little to no foamy head. Bottle says "Fire Hydrant Hefeweisen", Utica NY. Aroma of Spices and such. Flavour was of hops, wheat and bananas. Minimal carbonation, with a floral ending. Overall an OK hefe (even though its technically wheat ale), but not what I consider top notch.