Pennichuck Rüstwagen Unfiltered Wheat Beer

Brewed by Pennichuck Brewing Company
Style: German Hefeweizen
Milford, New Hampshire USA

Name: Rustwagen
Date: November 10, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Hop City, Atlanta
Appearance: clear copper, frothy white head, sudsy lace
Aroma: sweet and earthy aroma, light fruityness, earthy spicyness
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, balancing spicyness, light bitterness, just a hint of banana sweetness
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 9/20
Rating: 2.5/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: ** /4

growler-pours a rich foamy white head and gold color. Aroma is banana/clove-spice, grainy. Taste is a burst of pepper/clove-spice, then banana, sweet light malt, light fruit. Aggressive carbonation. Thanks mcox90 for the trade.

Pours amber and muddy with a thin tan head. Smells of banana, citrus, sweet wheat. Tastes of sweet wheat and banana with a spicy finish.

Bottle. Pours a hazy copper orange body with a white foamy head. Wheat notes a light lemon zest, some stale cheese notes, a bit of banana but no real bubblegum notes. Light spices a bit acrid and dry with some danker malt notes and coriander. Decent brew although a bit thin and light.

22 ounce bottle - $4.99 at Bullock’s in Marietta, Georgia. Appearance: Very cloudy, amber body with a foamy, large, off-white head. Smell: Toasted whole wheat bread delicately dusted with spices alongside fruity notes of banana, Red Delicious apples, and day-old lemon rinds. Taste: Tangy, toasted wheat malts stirred up with a blend of cinnamon and sugar and cake crumbs. Slight citrus hints. Modest amount of whole bananas and even some apple. Moderate Noble hop character and bitterness. Some touches of clove and nutmeg. Sweetish tastes of toasty wheat until the very fizzy finish with a final zip of citrus. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Well carbonated, almost sharply effervescent. Drinkability: Hey. HEY. Whoa!! Easy on the fizz, Pennichuck. Geez Louise... There some pleasant flavors going on and it holds promise, but for future releases, please tone down that overtly fizzy carbonation.

22 oz bottle. Pours a hazy dark gold body with a large fizzy white head that faded to a wispy film. Hearty yeast and wheat nose with a bit of earthiness. Lots of wheat and yeast flavor, but not a whole lot of esters or fruitiness from the yeast. More of an American Wheat style beer than a Hefe. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a slightly thick yeast slurry texture and lots of fizzy carbonation. Not an especially good Hefe, but I’ve come to not expect terribly good things from most American Hefes.

22oz bottle. B & W photo on the label of an old clunker. Pours a muddy yellow-orange. Kinda unappealing from such a solid opaque yeast cake of an appearance. Long lasting white fluffy head. Heavy aroma of wheat malt. Very light fruit in the nose. Deep rich scent of whole grains. Very tangy flavor, lots of zest. Then the palate travels over to the breadiness. All I can honestly taste is all that yeast. There is an odd spice and a continuous fizz on left on the palate. This bottle is definitely still alive. Very dry finish. I would much rather cook with this beer than drink another full bottle again. Now I just feel full and gaseous.

murky orange/gold under a very large foamy head. lots of lively carbonation bubbles line the glass. lemony sour aroma bright with citrus notes. light bodied, over-carbonated palate. no creaminess. flavor still focuses more on the citrus side for me than the softer banana. a bit of dusty basement flavor.