Santa Cruz Mountain Wilder Wheat

Brewed by Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing
Style: Wheat Ale
Santa Cruz, California USA

On tap. Pours a cloudy yellow with a small off-white head. Sweetish coriander and yeast in the nose. Medium body, soft mouthfeel, again coriander and yeast with a phenollic finish. 090709

From tap at the brewpub. Pours hazy yellow with no head. Aroma is light cornish and estery fruity. Classic wheat flavoured with a little more sweet malt base than usual for the style. Light bitter and fruity finish.

Draft at the brewery. OK, so here’s the deal with every beer I had here: buttery. Adjust the color and basic flavor component to match the beer otherwise, and that pretty much wraps it up. This one was a little wheaty, which is what you’d hope for in a wheat beer. (#3582, June 2009)

Sour aroma with some hint of citrus, flavor was similar, not really impressive to say the least. For a Wheat it was really flavorless honestly, or maybe flat.

28-Jan-08 (22-oz bottle: Purchased 11-Jan-08 for $4.29 at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA) Hardly a sound when popping the cap, the hazy, medium-straw colored beer pours with only a thin, bubbly head that fully dissipates rapidly. Upon first tasting this "American Style Hefeweizen," the beer seems very light and uninteresting. Just not a lot of flavor or body. But after a few more sips, some interesting notes emerge. The wheat base is very light and almost evades detection, but that just allows the other flavors to come out more. Somewhat spicy, lightly citrusy, estery (almost-ripe banana), and mildly sweet, but also gently tart. The beer also has a very dusty, chalky quality, which I really dig. Aromas match the flavor, specifically the dustiness and tartness. Body and carbonation are certainly light, but with the spice, dustiness and light tartness, the end result is a refreshing beer that begins to resemble a saison in some respects. Not a great first impression, but that’s mostly because the beer didn’t match my expectations. Once past that, the beer is actually quite enjoyable.

22oz bottle from BevMo La Mesa. A very intriguing Hefe. Nose was lightly sour and a bit funky with some citrus, same with the flavor. I had to think twice about this one, different.

On tap at the brewpub. Hazy straw yellow with a fizzy white head that doesn’t care to stick around very long. Aroma is faint, but tart citrus and a bit of wheat ester sweetness are detectable. Flavor is sweet but a touch acidic. More lemon than banana, some spice. Sort of mealy and thin-bodied. Pretty weak.

Bottle courtesy Jah Noth - Thanks! Opaque yellow pour...small white head that disappears quickly. Aroma is very bland...not much other than some wheat and a bit of orange. Flavor is similarly bland...has some orange and a splash of spice, but is otherwise completely unremarkable. Concur with a few others that there is a funk in here that just doesn’t belong. This is the 2nd or third organic beer I’ve tried, and so far, none have been impressive in the least!