New Glarus Unplugged Imperial Weizen

Brewed by New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: German Hefeweizen
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

A big thank you to my cousin for a bottle of this much anticipated brew! It is a dark, rusty, unfiltered pour with a handsome crown and lacing. The label is simple and unpretentious. The aroma is astonishingly good - richly floral and piquant, with a little alcohol rising up from the wildflowers. The taste is the first of its kind I have experienced - a hopped up hefe, from what I can tell. (The label and Ratebeer describe what went into the brew.) It seems like a wheat base with some fairly sharp hops layered on - also orange, a sweet dessert-like flavor, and some acidity. There is a kick from the 9.6% ABV too. This is very complex, but it is not entirely successful because the flavor requires all your attention. Despite the quality of the ingredients, this beer demonstrates why wheat beers usually are not loaded up with hops. The Cascade hops and hefe flavors do clash a little - but this is still worth trying.

Pours a bright, cloudy orange colour with a sticky, creamy white head. Very large- well carbonated brew, but not overdone. Lacing is scattered and sticky leaving behind clumpy resinous rings on the glass. Aroma is tropical- bananna, mangoe, figs and hint of cloves. Taste is sweet, plenty more fruit- pineapple oranges and soft lemon zest in the finish. Touch of yeast is noticeable initially. Mouthfeel is creamy and spritzy.

Poured this out of a 12oz. bottle into my Saint Arnold’s glass. Tasted on 4/28/08

This beer looks pretty typical for a hefeweizen. It pours a nice hazy orange and has a very nice off white head that lasts for quite a while. The smell is pretty expected except for that amazing citrusy hop coming through past the banana and clove. Wow the taste of this is something else. It hits with banana and clove flavors and then the most amazing hop bitterness I’ve ever had in a wheat beer. This is one hell of a beer. Highly recommended.

Rating #375. From the bottle, purchased at Rileys in Madison. My first reaction to this was that it was Dancing Man on steriods, which prompted me to pull a bottle of Dancing Man from the fridge and taste the two side by side. The flavor profile between the two is remarkably similar, with this having more body and greater viscosity than DM. Notes of banana and clove are prominent on both the nose and on the palate, followed by hay, grass, and wheat berries. The finish is where the citrus and hops kick in, which is where this shows its difference from DM most profoundly. My overall reactions were that I liked this, but I find DM to be the more pleasurable experience, particularly given this style doesn’t lend itself as well to the "imperial" brewing methods. And I would say that in terms of the more extreme weizens, I like Capital’s take on the style better.

[1570-20080803] 12floz bottle. Boozy matchstick head chemical aroma. Hazy, medium orange body with a long-lasting foamy off-white head and nice lattice lacing. Sweet heavy citrus malt flavour is bitter initially. Medium-full body. Nicely balanced and quite interesting.

Sweet lemon, honey and some banana aromas. Malt. Rich and thick foamy head of long duration. Color is orangish yellow and semi transparent. Rich orange and citrus flavors, grapefruit juice provides a bitter finish over a honeylike initial flavors. Medium rich palate with a light alcoholic presence in the finish. Good and strong.

Bottle, courtesy ??? at the recent tasting. Pours clear orange with a thin white head. Banana orange spice aroma. Full body and light carbonation. Sweet banana-laden taste with a bit of cloves and citrus on the side. It wants to finish with a wheaty sourness, but the banana is just too much. This is the beer I was looking for, as I suffered through the imperial weizens from other brewers.

Thanks to my secret santa for giving me the chance to try this! Poured a cloudy orange with a nice white head. Aroma was orange rind, spice, yeast and wheat. Taste had some orange marmalade character, coriander, bitter orange peel, yeast, spice, and a nice full finish. Nice and thick, and pretty rich. This would make a nice christmas beer.