North Coast Blue Star

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Ale
Fort Bragg, California USA

Bottle. Pours with a small, white head that fades over a chill hazed yellow body. Aroma of honey, hops (Perle?), fruit, bread and wheat. Taste is wheat, honey, biscuit and Perle hops. Fizzy carbonation with a dryish mouthfeel.

Pours cloudy golden with a thin white head. A bit of citrus, malt and grain. Same in the flavor. A bit sweet and bland.

Golden straw color with quickly dissipating white head. Sweet aroma of faint citrus and cooked grain. Light and crisp and finishes clean with hints of orange. Pleasant but not all that memorable.

Bottle from the Utah State Wine Store. Pours a cloudy orange color with a medium white head. The aroma is apricots, some wheat as well. The flavor is like a fruity hefe; sweet apricots fruity flavors with a dry background of wheat and some spices. Easygoing and very quaffable.

Bottled, hazy color and medium weak head. Aroma of wheat, straw, yeast, malt, and a hint of fruit. Wheat, spice, and citrus flavor. Nothing to separate itself, average and bland.

Bottle 12fl.oz.
Unclear medium to dark yellow color with a average, frothy, good lacing, fully lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, wheat, fruity, mandarin, paper. Flavor is moderate sweet and light to moderate bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [280908]

I can’t help but think of the Lone-Star state when I hear of or see the Blue Star Wheat, but neither could be further apart, in state or in meaning. Pouring a hazy bright orange, hayish hues peek through at the bottom and along the sides. A furious head of foam is eager to please and morose to fade into the puffy blanket she becomes marked by intricate trails of lace. As I savor the view, a bouquet of spices and fruit such as orange and melon along with citric zest and coriander. Very bright, exciting, and replete with a tempting array of aromas. Not one to neglect the brew below, I partake of my first quaff which is soft, frothy, and full with a clean and succulent body. Fresh squeezed oranges, nectarines, and some peaches dance amidst light essences of spice, coriander, and lemon zest. Very little lingering aftertaste, Blue Star Wheat also strives for a clean palate and finish; very American in that sense. As she warms and my glass continues to empty, some softer notes of banana come into play, a pleasing tribute to her German cousin. Even as some soft bananas make their mark, more orange, tangerine, and peach makes Blue Star Wheat one of the best American-inspired wheat beers I have enjoyed to date. As I finish my glass, I stare woefully at her empty depths and wonder only where I can obtain some more.

German wheat beers are most traditionally where it is at, but there are definitely a few worthy American successors, and Blue Star Wheat is one of those. I love German wheat beers, but American wheat beers also have their own worthy designs of charm and beauty. North Coast Brewing presents me with such success. Brew on, Blue Star Wheat, brew on.

Bottled@Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Hazy folden colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is wheat, some citrusfruits, spices and mild notes of cookies. Flavour is wheat, mild spices, caramel and some toffee. The aftertaste is wheat and some slight caramelly notes.