Pyramid Imperial Hefeweizen

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

From Firefly. My first Imperial Hefe, sorry, Wheatwine. This all began with only a trace of a head, merely a thin white film above a body of rather cloudy orange. The aroma was to me at least, mainly of some orange rind and maybe a couple of other things that I'm unable to identify. Taste was sweeter than a "regular" hefe and likewise the finish. Sweet yet not so sweet as to be cloying. Mouthfeel was more so than a standard hefe; luxurious comes to mind (don't ask why). I liked this beer but I wouldn't want to make a session out of it. Certainly not at $9/bottle.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Bottle: Poured a cloudy dirty yellow color weizen with a small off-white head with limited retention as well as lacing. Aroma of wheat malt is dominating with some light notes of banana and cloves. Taste is again dominated by some wheat malt with some light notes of banana and cloves ester also noticeable. Body is full with some very limited filtration and average carbonation with no discernable alcohol. Interesting take on the style but somewhat cloying at the end of the day.

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

This one poured a cloudy yellow appearance with a moderate white head. The aroma contains lemons, peaches, and some cloves. The flavor contains some breadiness with some bananas, lemons, and peaches. This didnt seem very imperial to me but it was ok.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

A impy Hefe you say………I guess all styles must need an imperial version……..I can’t wait to try my first imperial reduced alcohol. This came from a 650ml bottle labeled “brewers reserve 2007”. When cap first removed beer smoke poured at and I went after it like an 1980’s yuppie go’s after a line of coke, but this went horribly wrong when I realized the beer smoke smelt like feet. Other non-tasty aroma’s where apple, wheat, faint alcohol, and the always yummy sent of black rubber. Ugg…. Smelt interesting but not appealing. Brew is very cloudy tannish brown with some orange elements only a small film floats on top. I swirled and I swirled and I swirled some more but I couldn’t get all of the 1” of mud out of the bottom of the bottle. Why was this made? This style makes no sense to me. Malts are very wheaty and leave a caramel after taste, flavor is very mild and way milder then I would have expected. A apple flavor is very prominent and the apple combining with some banana is making a sweaty foot flavor. I guess this wasn’t horrible to drink it was just boring and bland, it shouldn’t have ever have been made.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

UGHGHHGHHH. What the hell is this? Did they even taste it before bottling? I'm not down with this at all.
Smells like a really fragrant, intense, high end shampoo. Don't forget really ripe fruit that is baking in the sun. How do I rate this? The smell is really fine but it doesn't really adhere to the Hefe standard that I'm used to. Plus, I'm having a night where I seem to be buzzed pretty hard super quick off of a Marston's? Senior death camp home here I come. Cloves are first to be recognized, followed immediately by a shit load of wheat then warm hearty bread, sweet candy, ripe bananas (probably the sweet candy), nectarines, fake apple... I think that's all I can make up for now. Dumped out hardly any crown, what was there is white and unimpressive. The brew is slightly orange and even more slightly hazy. The aroma seems to further and further down the apple road - how odd. The taste is very heavy on the wheat with an almost indistinguishable banana / orange blend. Noticeable hops that don't ruin the experience but don't help the Hefe cause. The 7.5% is only noticeable in my vision and slurred speech. The mouth feel is dry, sort of, medium or more bodied, not thick or viscous, fairly smooth, ok carbonation, short lived dull wheat / weak bitter finish. OK, I've changed my tune. I don't hate this. It seems without classification, a beer floating in the neverworld of styles. Drinkable? Yup. Nothing really bad about this except that it's outright odd. The whole time the aroma has been forcing me to think "faceless 40oz strong beer". A totally unappealing beer that is to get a 2.8 rating - get me another from the style to compare to. And it cost me 10 bux - never again. I'm officially drunk on two beers - tell my children I love them. It is apparent that I've lost all will to absorb alcohol.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

An imperial hefe? OOoohhkay. As I see the beer pour from the glass, I'm thinking..what the hell am I to expect? A hopped out hefe? Just doesn't sound tasty. In the end, what I got was a fairly decent beer. Aroma was banana, a bit of cereal, yeast and crackers. Flavors were toffee, piney hops and malty. Decent nose but everything else sort of drops off after that.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This beer pours with a fat-two-finger thick, pale tan colored head that is slightly creamy and sticks a bit to the sides of my glass. The beer is quite hazy and is an orange-tinted, amber color. The aroma is quite clean in it grain-like character; it smells of lightly toasted pale malt and wheat and crushed soda crackers. Underneath this is a yeastiness and a touch of fruitiness that is something like apples with a bit of pear and even a touch of apricot. I can't really smell much in the way of a hop contribution to the aroma.

Somewhat tart tasting up front and it definitely tastes a bit like doughy yeast. There is a hit of hot alcohol towards the finish that seems to fade pretty quickly. A herbal hop character and lightly astringent bitterness tends to linger on in the mouth after that beer has passed on. Bread-like malt and a yeast bit also linger on in the finish. This definitely has a bit more heft to it than a regular American Wheat ale, but is still somewhat quaffable. Tart wheat & yeast notes contribute to fruit flavors of green apples and pears. This is definitely very grain focused in flavor with a touch of yeast and hop character to round things out (which is characteristic of the regular version of this beer).

At times the hot alcohol can really linger and it really detracts from the experience of this brew. I think that it gets to be a bit too much for the simplistic grain & slight hop character that is typically found in an American Wheat Ale. This even despite that fact that this is a "more" beer. Not bad, but it would be much better & more what I expected if the alcohol could somehow be tamed.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson, AZ

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Poured a cloudy copper color with small head. Aroma was wheaty and lots of bananas. Flaovr was much the same with some cloves and other spices. SOme hops balanced this one out pretty well. Good beer.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottle from SL. The color was hazy to cloudy amber, thin white head, diminishing quickly, near nil lacing. The aroma was the typical banana esters and wheaty malts. The flavor followed suit, clovey bananas, but a nice almost dry bitter hoppy finish (bittering noble hops, maybe some saaz also in there?) kept this thing pretty clean, far from a sticky sweet imperial hefe mess. A nice impy hef.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This Hefeweizen pours a very cloudy orange gold color from a 22oz bottle. Large sized creamy white head, with excellent retention and nice lacing. Aroma is fruity, estery and sweet, with lots of bubble gum and banana and clove aromas. A fairly heavy bodied Hefeweizen. Malts are wheaty and fruity, lots of banana and clove flavors. The banana flavors aren’t sweet and the wheatiness is not cloying. It’s most definitely a hefeweizen, but the flavors are way amped up, everything is much fuller and bigger. Lively carbonation. Yet, it still retains most of the lightness and crispness of a more traditional hefe. I wonder if this stuff would age well. It also hides the 7.5% alcohol very well. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter with a slight alcohol bite.