San Diego El Hefeweizen

Brewed by San Diego Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Ale
San Diego, California USA

Name: El Hefe
Date: 12/04/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

hazy yellow, fine white head, streaks of lace, light sweet banana aroma, creamy body, nice banana flavor, touch of sweetness, balanced by light clove,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.1/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: *4

Tap, San Diego Brewing. Very hazy brownish color on the pour. Sweet yeasty aroma with a touch of grain. Good sweet yeastiness up front. Slightly sweet with a bitter grainy finish. Decent hefe.

On draught at the brewpub while during trip to California. Unclear colour with a lance head. Nearly no aroma the taste are more than a lager than a wheat beer. Indeed not interesting.

(Draft: San Diego Brewing Company in San Diego, CA) While sitting here, a fellow patron ordered their hefeweizen, and the bartender talked him into a Widmer Hefeweizen instead. That really says a lot about this beer and fills me with trepidation. But I’m ordering it anyway. Lots of wheat in the aroma, but where’s the promised banana and clove? Slightly stinky and smelling like a cheap beer, this is not encouraging. Even in the flavor, the more interesting characteristics of this beer are very subdued, and this really comes across as a standard Americanized "hefeweizen", which is to say, and American wheat beer. I suppose one could argue that there are elements of banana, yeast and clove, but man, they are pretty light and you really have to search these aspects out. Body is light-to-medium, nicely carbonated, but ultimately not very stimulating. Very cloudy, dark golden in color from all the haze. Off-white head is on the small side, and it settles to a film, but the lacing left behind is dense, at least at the top of the glass before there’s no more head left. I still think the bartender was doing a disservice to this brewery because while this beer isn’t stellar by any stretch of the imagination, it’s more interesting that Widmer’s offering. Nevertheless, I won’t be ordering this beer again.

Draft at SDBC. Typical hazy orange color. First one was served with a lemon. I quickly solved that little problem. Head dissapated quickly, but the residual ring left nice lacing for more than half the glass. Aromas of bananas and yeast. The flavor lost the banana, but the yeast was still pretty evident. Lemon in the finish. Nice fresh beer.