Berkshire Hefeweizen

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a two-finger thick, pale, just barely tanned, off-white colored head. The beer is a dark gold color that shows a touch of haze and a bright, yellow-gold color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of clove as I pour it, but a closer inspection yields more of a focus on tart, green apple. A touch of grassy grain and some metallic hop notes in the finish round things out before a solid cracker like grain kicks in.

Nicely carbonated this has a pepper carbonic bit and foams a bit as it first hits the tongue. The carbonation seems to carry a flavor of clove with it as this is the most noticeable flavor during the first sip. The beer has a touch of herbal, almost tin-like hop character in the finish as well as a touch of hop bitterness. This beer is very light bodied, even a bit too much to stand up to the ample carbonation. A touch of sweet graininess is present, but only just barely as this is pretty dry. There is also just a touch of cracker like malt character, but not quite as much as the aroma would have suggested. There is a bit of tart fruitiness in the finish that reminds me a bit of pear and green apple.

This is not bad, but fairly bland. It could really use a lot more grain character (both malt and wheat) and if you threw in a decoction or two, well then we would really be talking.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

Bottle: Poured a clear golden color weizen with a medium foamy head with average retention and no lacing. Aroma consists of some light banana ester with a huge amount of DMS (overcooked vegetables). Taste is also dominated by some weird overcooked vegetables notes with some light notes of banana. Extremely bad and way off style for me to enjoy. I rarely drain pour beers but this is one that I could not drink the whole bottle.