Kaufbeuren Hefeweizen Anno 25

Brewed by Aktienbrauerei Kaufbeuren
Style: German Hefeweizen
Kaufbeuren, Schwaben/Bayern, Germany

Bottle: Quite watery for a Weizen, leaves a dissappointing neutral feeling on the palate. Drinakable but not recomendable.

Tap. Semi-hazed and a muted yellow color with a frothy, one-inch tall white head that makes a fairly soapy looking arrangement. Favorable fresh baked honey bread aroma, complimented by musky bananas and scraped lemon rinds. Some white chocolate and vanilla tootsie rolls join a fantastic smelling sugary-cloves motif. So enticing. Flavor bodes a touch lighter. Cloves and pepper serve as a slight spice to the smooth, potato bread yeast-like qualities. Touches of orange and lemon crème generate the citric activity. Peppery bananas titillate the tongue while a thirst quenching stream rolls in and out. Light-bodied and an effervescence that seems similar with carbonated lemon seltzer water. Doughy honey bread and spicy cloves comprise the phenolic finish with some pear juice riding on the coattails.

17-Apr-06 (500 ml bottle: $2.29 at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA) Okay, I found a bottle at Holiday, so let’s give this another whirl. Bottling dates are absent on both the front and back, but this beer seems fine. Lots of yeast in the bottle, so rousing it before opening the bottle, the beer pours a fairly cloudy, light golden body topped with a small white head that settles to a filmy layer fairly quickly. The mildly-funky aroma presents some of the usual suspects for this style -- wheat, banana, a hint of spice -- but isn’t especially aromatic, complex or interesting. Wheat base is only lightly sweet and fades off the palate fairly quickly. Hops is very light, banana/bubblegum are reduced to only hints, and there is no real spiciness either so this tastes too much like a generic wheat beer. Carbonation is more than ample, tingly on the palate and rather burpy actually. Body is light-medium initially, turning even thinner in the finish. Overall, a thin German hefeweizen that not only lacks the essentials in sufficient strength, but finishes like a generic wheat beer. Not worth trying to find the second bottle, but at least I have an honest rating of this beer now. Won’t ever buy it again though.

11-Sep-05 (500 ml bottle: $2.19 at Hi Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, CA) Snap-Crackle-Pop! This beer pours a large, bubbly, white head, but it disappears with great haste before my eyes and makes quite a racket with the Rice Crispies imitation. Within a few minutes, that gorgeous head has evaporated and I’m left with just a small ring. Pale golden in color, but it’s fully cloudy, so I can’t see through the beer at all. The nose is actually a bit tart and earthy, with none of the usual suspects we normally find in a German Hefeweizen. And now for the flavor. Something is definitely wrong with this beer. It tastes woody, earthy and tart, like really really watered down apple cider. No resemblance to a Hefeweizen. The body is light, but very fizzy, zesty and dry. I bought this bottle pretty recently, and Hi-Time Wine Cellars handles their beer well, so its intercontinental trip may have been a bit strenuous. I suppose it could just be a bad bottle, but I’m still hesitant to buy another from the same store. (3, 2, 2, 2, 3 = 1.2)

Bottle. Wheat malt aroma. primarily with banana and clove as well. Golden yellow and orange color - cloudy with small head. Wheat malt flavor primarily as well - clove pretty apparent but little fruitiness. Decent body. A nice Weizen but doesn’t have much fruitiness which I really enjoy.

Update: I enjoyed this brew much more this go-round. Pours cloudy orange with a white head. Maybe a fresher bottle, but the body was smooth and full, creamy. Soft wheat flavors, banana esters and dried pineapple. Much different beer then the first time I rated it. Pours a very clear gold color with a tall white head. Aroma has a bit of a grape note along with very light dry grain smell. This was a very light brew, with a watery texture on the palate and a sligtly tart hint at the finish. I was hoping for a bit more body in this brew, but other than that it had a nice dry wheat taste up front and a light touch of banana yeast esters in the finish. Very mild and light.

Bottle: Pours a pale golden hazy colour. Big white head, that disappears quickly though. Has a aroma of bananas and lemons. The taste is malty with hints of bananas and oranges. A bit crispy too with bananas in the asftertaste. Not a bad beer but not the best weizen i have tasted.

A large white head that calmed down to a mdium size fairly quickly. A typical cloudy gold color. The aroma is lemons, butterscotch candy and some peanuts. The taste is light with some oranges and some white bread. Also hints of clove and banana when it warms. Fairly standard for the style. Nice, but not spectaular.

Lightly clouded yellowy appearance, moderate head formation. Strong vanilla aroma, creamy, mildly spiced. Sweet malt, creamy palate. Fizzy, and not too much spice, minimal finish.