Organic Hefeweizen
Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe

Organic HefeweizenOrganic Hefeweizen
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From:
Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe
 
Australia
Style:
Hefeweizen
ABV:
5%
Score:
76
Avg:
3.04 | pDev: 24.67%
Reviews:
20
Ratings:
22
Status:
Active
Rated:
Oct 10, 2014
Added:
Oct 22, 2004
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
Brewed using certified organic malts, malted to Redoak's specifications direct from the farmer, and organic hops with a classic Weihenstephan yeast strain.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Kroehny_Loves_Hops:
Photo of Kroehny_Loves_Hops
Rated by Kroehny_Loves_Hops from Australia

3/5  rDev -1.3%

Oct 10, 2014
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 1 by pin from Australia

May 22, 2013
Photo of Stew41
Reviewed by Stew41 from Thailand

3.26/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Another solid effort from Red Oak. Text book appearance; light orange, cloudy, with a darker inner core. Fruity, expressive nose; more candy like than banana. Excellent palate feel; malts are very well done but feel quite thick, almost liquered. Finshes quite long with a hint of spice.
Aug 23, 2011
Photo of mothman
Reviewed by mothman from Minnesota

3.15/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Pours little white head. Not much lace. Color is a clear golden orange.

Aroma: Bananas and yeast, green apples, and a bit of cloves. Also has some honey.

Taste: Sweet and saison like. Honey, cloves, spice, green apples. Almost tastes a bit sour. Bready malts.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and sour. Light bodied with a light amount of carbonation. Ends pretty clean.

Overall, a very odd hefe. Reminds me more of a saison or a Berliner. Decent drinkability.
Jan 10, 2011
Photo of BeerAdvocate
Reviewed by BeerAdvocate from Finland

3.65/5  rDev +20.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Beer review from BA Mag Sep 2007.

This Hefeweizen is brewed using certified organic malts, organic hops with a classic Weihenstephan yeast strain and is malted to Redoak's specifications, direct from the farmer.

Very pale in color, a light gold that's slightly hazy. Quite foamy and active, which creates a thick meringue-like head with plenty of stick. Soft clove phenols and banana esters in the nose, and a powdery pale malt base. Creamy on the palate, with prickly carbonation and a light body. This is followed by a rather heavy-handed smack of lemony bitterness that's a bit puckering. Clove and banana characters are present, but they struggle with the citric character a bit too much, though a spiced bready banana flavor eventually emerges within the soft and doughy malt base as the beer warms--definitely allow this beer to warm before enjoying. Finish dries up pretty well, with a lingering powdery malt flavor, some gum and faint clove tucked away in its residual sweetness.

What's odd is the lack of traditional cloudiness (yeast and sediment) one would expect from a Hefeweizen. Though it's not totally filtered, this is probably a bit closer to a Kristalweizen. Overall, a rather refreshing beer. Try pairing with a mixed-green salad lightly tossed with a bit of olive oil blended with the beer, a dash of salt and cracked pepper, topped with some goat's milk feta.
Jul 07, 2010
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Reviewed by Beer0X41 from Australia

4.3/5  rDev +41.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
A - some head and cloudy honey colour

S - hasey citrus honey colour

T - A slite Sour/sweet tast very mild Banana and clove flavours.

M - a little over carbonated

D - German versions are better but this is still Good still up there for an australian Brew

Serving type: bottle
Feb 20, 2010
Photo of ppoitras
Reviewed by ppoitras from Massachusetts

2.89/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
330ml bottle received in trade with mulder1010. Thanks for the opportunity.

Poured into a Harpoon chalice, formed a 1" bright white head over the slightly cloudy light gold brew. Head meringues up even further for awhile, with thick coating lace. Aroma is tart, almost completely muting the wheat character. Taste follows the nose, tartness dominant, not much wheat flavor at all. Mouthfeel is somewhat thin, and drinkability is okay, but could be better as well. Not all I was hoping for here.
Dec 08, 2009
Photo of rhoadsrage
Reviewed by rhoadsrage from Illinois

3.59/5  rDev +18.1%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
(Served in a short strange)
A- Slight hazy warm orange body with a vigourus pour forms a thin white head and big bubbles pop off on the surface.
S- The nose of apple cider brightens to a soft musty yeast finishing with a note of raw cereal that increases as the beer warms a bit.
T- The light bread dough flavor is followed by a apple sauce flavor. There is a faint clove spice and green hop bite when the beer is a bit warmer. The hop bite offers a nice contrast to the wheat flavors.
M- The light mouthfeel has a soft texture in the finish.
D- The bright apple really grows to cover up the other flavors and there is no real traditional hefe flavors but the musty aroma is still quite pleasant. There was no head no matter how much rousing.
Nov 10, 2009
Photo of dgilks
Reviewed by dgilks from Australia

2.93/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Pours a cloudy pale gold colour with a 1 finger white head. Head retention isn't great for a hefeweizen.

Wheaty, sweet malt aroma with hints of banana and clove. the yeast esters and phenols aren't powerful enough here and get caught up in a dank, musty sort of aroma.

Very tart up front with little mid palate strength and a thin, spicy finish. I get pineapple at the start with maybe a hint of banana in there. It fades out of the tartness into a slightly wheaty but dull mid palate before moving to a lifeless slightly clovey finish. This has the elements of good hefeweizen flavour but is executed poorly.

A slightly below average mouthfeel and above average carbonation are right for style but seem to pull down this beer.

This isn't an offensive beer but it isn't a good hefeweizen with flavour to be lacking in the right elements and slightly overdone in others.
Oct 01, 2009
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Reviewed by laituegonflable from Australia

2.87/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3
Pours a slight pale golden colour with frenetic stream of bubbles feeding a generous white head. Fair haze in the glass. Tilting produces a sleek sheet of lace that doesn't cling. That looks pretty damn good. Or rather, it would, if it were a pale lager. It's a freaking HEFEWEIZEN though, which it looks almost NOTHING like.

Nose is a bit more wheaty, with a strong acrid tartness, actually quite meaty, with an off-fruit character, hints of citrus, yes, banana, and a metallic character. Maybe some light cloves but no spice from it, just a hint of fragrance. A bit more hefe-y, but not a lot better.

Taste is very tart, with a strong sour, meaty character and a long, metallic finish. Hints in there of tomato, lime and off-milk, but not done in a complex, poetic way, but as a big (not powerful) gush of diverse flavours all at once. If Weihenstephaner's palate is a road trip through the diverse landscape of hefe flavours, this is a cliff-fall, all in one swoop with very little finesse. Mouthfeel though is pretty decent, quite tingle and tangy and good for the flavour.

Finish leaves you with the sensation of holding unpolished silverware in your mouth for too long. Look, I'm not getting much banana or clove on that at all, just a mish-mash of sour. I don't think this beer is well-balanced, or indeed well-brewed. It's a bit drinkable, but it's simple and uninteresting. Fairly average.
Jul 01, 2009
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Reviewed by juju7 from Australia

2.17/5  rDev -28.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5
Poured with very little head that disappeared very quickly. Not so much cloudy as hazy. Fairly transparent for a hefe. The nose isn't too bad with some cloves and sticky banana coming through. Then it happens....sticky, lemon sourness assaults the poor tatsebuds. Really took me by surprise. Med carbonation, light body, not much in the way of finish. But probably a good thing as you don't want this flavour to hang around for long. I've had plenty of Redoak beers before and they've been pretty good. Kind of falls into the "what were you thinking?" category. This is also a pretty fresh sample so I'm wondering if it was a bad batch or maybe just a bad bottle coz as far as hefeweizens go, this is crap. I'll give it one more chance but till then this glass is going down the sink.
Jun 18, 2009
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Reviewed by madvoice from Australia

3.32/5  rDev +9.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Poured a cloudy straw colour with what seemed an excessive amount of head which heavily laced the glass. Smelled very fruity and sweet.
Tastes quite sweet and spicy with banana like flavours and a bit of a tart aftertaste but not unpleasant. Is quite a chewy beer.Quite syrupy. Not as fizzy as I expected either. I'm not sure what to make of it but at least its drinkable.
Feb 20, 2009
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Reviewed by deathevocation from Australia

1.58/5  rDev -48%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5
Cracked the bottle and straight away thought I had cracked a macro lager. Poured into glass - colour is yellowish with a mild cloudiness. The head indicates the beer is highly carbonated. First sip and I can't stop thinking of a lager. Even my girlfriend who doesn't drink beer commented on the smell/appearance of it (doesn't look/smell like a hefe). The beer stays highly carbonated to the end though by two thirds of the way through the head is gone. Not impressed at all with this beer and would not buy again. I've tried three Australian hefes and two have been poor attempts at the style. To add insult to injury both beers are more or less the same price as the German mainstays (the third was as well but at least it wass ok). I think some micros should concentrate on nailing a certain style rather than spreading themselves too thin and producing substandard products like this.
Nov 22, 2008
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Reviewed by LittleCreature from Australia

3.89/5  rDev +28%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Appearance - 3.0
Not quite right right for a hefeweizen. Poured a big three fingers of frothy white head with good retention. Only slightly hazy, yellow in colour, looks highly carbonated.

Smell - 4.0
Clove is the dominant aroma, followed by lemon and a little bready malt sweetness, slight banana.

Taste - 4.0
This is a very refreshing hefe, less spicy and more citrusy than most. Nice balance of flavours, slightly sweet, quite sour, spice increases with warmth. Plenty of lemon, reminds be of Redback with lemon.

Mouthfeel - 3.5
Carbonation starts lively but was quite light towards the bottom of the glass and I didn't drink it slowly. Feels quite thick, almost syrupy in the mouth.

Drinkability - 4.0
Definitely sessionable, especially on a hot day.

OVERALL - 3.75
A slightly different, very pleasant hefe. I probably wouldn't buy it again, simply because Weihenstephaner's hefe can be found more widely, is no more expensive, and is a much better beer. Still, a good effort and a nice drink.
May 17, 2008
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Reviewed by brendan13 from Australia

3.48/5  rDev +14.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
A - Light yellow colour and quite hazy. Few centimetres of white head falls away suprisingly quickly for a hefe.
S - Light fruit & spice notes as to be expected. Wheat malt.
T - Along the same lines as the taste but with more wheat malt presence. A slight sour tang.
M - Medium bodied and highish carbonation.
D - Good summer thirst quencher.
Nov 17, 2007
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Reviewed by jarmby1711 from Australia

3.5/5  rDev +15.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Seems to be some diversity in how people rate this beer.
I am at the reasonably good effort end.
My glass was murky had a pure white hea , smelt and tasted of cloves and bananas , was balanced.
Too me that makes it reasonable Nothing exception ,but are tehre better Australian versions of the style around
(Might just pose that on BA discussion
Aug 20, 2007
Photo of vancurly
Reviewed by vancurly from Australia

3.35/5  rDev +10.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Pours a pale brassy honey, hazy. White thin head, which fades.

Light wheat flavours & typical yeast fruit & spice profile, with some fleshy character.

I think it's fairly light, refreshing, and a good Aussie summer beer. Some citrus tartness helpds round it off nicely.

In terms style, the German benchmarks demonstrate stronger attributes....this is quite lightweight in comparison.
Oct 26, 2006
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Reviewed by norwichboy from Australia

2.62/5  rDev -13.8%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5
Pours a honey colour, not particularly cloudy for style, quite strongly carbonated. The small head does not last for more than a couple of minutes, and it ends up rather unattractive. Sweet and sour aromas, banana and some clove when warms up, but not particularly intense. More banana on tasting, not particualrly intense flavours, and I was surprised to find an alcoholic taste disproportionate to the ABV. A bit too much carbonation, and a watery mouthfeel. All in all disappointing.
Oct 18, 2006
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Reviewed by hefevice from Australia

2.68/5  rDev -11.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Hrm...looking at the other reviews, this beer seems to have changed over time. Tried fresh from the tap at the Redoak Cafe. Poured very clear bright yellow with plenty of fluffy white head. Looked more like a kristal than a hefe, which prompted me to ask the barman whether the beer was filtered. No, apparently the Weihenstephaner yeast they use is highly flocculant (??), and they use the same yeast for the secondary fermentation (rather than a lager yeast like Weihenstephaner and some others). All references I can find to the Weihenstephaner hefe yeast characterise it as a poor flocculator.

Next shock was the aroma, dominated by (to me) an unpleasant eggy sulphur, with the expected banana and very light clove in the background.

Sulphur was noticable in the taste, which was otherwise reasonably well balanced and finished nice and dry. Mouthfeel was quite light - maybe a little lighter than expected due to the lack of suspended yeast.

After their hand pumped English ale, this was a real let down.
Jun 29, 2006
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Reviewed by lacqueredmouse from Australia

2.57/5  rDev -15.5%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Clear pale yellow, highly carbonated. Small, wussy head, no retention. This doesn't look like a hefe at all.

Smells very lagery. A bit sweeter than average, perhaps, but not a hefe nose. Where's the fragrance? Where's the character? Smells like a generic "premium" lager.

The taste is not quite so lagery. It's a bit fruity and a bit phenolic, and ends quite dry and yeasty. Mouthfeel quite smooth and tingly. It's actually quite a drinkable beer, but it's a shockingly bad example of a hefeweizen.

So, it's drinkable. Hey, I'd probably really enjoy it if they didn't claim it to be something it's not. When I get something clear piss-yellow when I'm expecting cloudy fragrant estery goodness, it's bound to be a disappointment.
Dec 21, 2005
Organic Hefeweizen from Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe
Beer rating: 76 out of 100 with 22 ratings