Josephs Brau Bavarian Style Hefeweizen
Trader Joe's Brewing Company

Poured into a weizen glass. Pours a lightly hazy, medium golden amber with a one finger white head with good retention and nice lacing. Aroma of yeasty wheat malt, clove, banana and a touch of lemon; nice. Flavor follows, with bready wheat malt, banana, clove, hints of lemon rind. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Well, this was a pleasant surprise; a quite decent, to-style hefe here. It looks like I reviewed the version from about 10 years ago under Trader Joe's moniker (not Josephsbrau), but noted that the can stated the latter. From that review, I suspect they upped their game a bit. The finish I found abrupt back then is full and well rounded here. I'm fan of Trader Joe's beers, but most are a bit dialed back, but fine for their price range. This one is a perfectly fine domestic take on the style. Looks, smells and tastes well brewed. I'd have no problem picking up this one again.

 

Pours a beautiful copper orange with a thick off-white head that slowly shrinks but never fully disappears.

Aroma is the classic hefeweizen combination of banana and bubble gum, without being too strong of one or the other.

Taste is bready malt with granny smith apples, resulting in a mild sweetness that fades to a slight tartness that invites you to take another sip.

Mouthfeel is full and effervescent.

Overall, Trader Joe's really nailed it with this one. I would happily get this one again.

this is not a Hefeweizen, because it's missing the 'hefe' (yeast). the milky appearance that accompanies hefeweizen is missing in this Josephs Brau beer. It's closer to a Kristallweizen, a wheat beer where some of the yeast has been filtered out.
Also, like so many American hefeweizen, this beer is too hoppy. Hefeweizen is a laborious beer to produce and few put in the needed effort. Josephs Brau is just one of many that failed.

 

Appearance: Quite hazy golden-yellow in color, with a stupendously tall and dense white head and outstanding retention. Clouds of fine carbonation drift lazily to the surface. There is a bit of suspended sediment.

Aroma: Ripe bananas dominate the aroma, with lesser notes of clove and a strong white bread presence as well as lemon rind, green apple and white pepper.

Taste: The taste begins with tart wheat, soon followed by ripe bananas and green apple rind. There is also a slight flavor of lemon rind and white pepper. As the taste draws to a close, there is a mild wave of sweetness, rather like that of ripe bananas. The finish offers a mild flourish of herbal hops and a bit of pepper.

Mouth feel: Rich, full and soft, and quite pleasant.

Drinkability/notes: A quite nice example and an undoubted bargain at $6.49 for a six-pack.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twelve ounce brown glass long neck bottle with a pry-off crown, served in a La Fin du Monde tulip.

A recent trip to Trader Josephs yielded this and eleven other singles, the clerk got so fed up with the hassle of scanning them that he gave up... I ended up with two free ones. God bless the overworked this holiday season, I should have tipped him but I didn't notice at first

This has something to it. The "Josephs Brau" series are the best beers in the store if you are accounting for price-to-quality, which I always am doing. Looks pretty good, as all their beers do, amber-orange with some lacing. Sweet and heavy on the banana and clove scent. The taste gets too thick and wheaty and sweet as it warms, like a soggy bowl of banana cheerios. There's also an off chemical taste, kinda like pennies. But while really cold, this might be the best cheapish beer around. Banana, clove, green apple, touch of hops, plenty sweet but totally drinkable and not cloying. Not rich, yet ambrosial (I wanted to use that word)

Legit

APPEARANCE: Hazy opaque amber, with little head and no lace.

AROMA: Banana up front. Nice touch.

TASTE: Rush of fruits and spices, with a zesty clove finish and very nicely traditional notes of banana and bubblegum. Well-done!

perhaps slightly different now than i remember it, double listed here but it might not be quite the same beer under different labels. fully tolerable for this price, especially when ice cold, its cool this exists, and definitely serves a niche, even if its a small one. looks the part, maybe a shade deeper in color than is traditional, but the head is high and white and the beer is very active. this smells nice too, a little over the top in terms of yeast esters, but its german to me, rightly so, with maybe a bit of a belgian wit element to it, clove spice, white pepper, black tea, green pear, ripe banana, all of that is here with just a little soapiness. to me in the flavor its tasty and is wheat based, two criticisms, one being its residual sugar, loses refreshment value because of the finishing sweetness, and two, the lack of body, this feels really thin to me, not luxurious and creamy like the best examples of the style. that said though, the carbonation is on point and i can taste some wheat. warms up a touch cheap and chemical, but overall this is better than its price would suggests and definitely works in a warm weather outdoor drinker context. i suspect the rest of the six pack will disappear before long. not great, but far from bad, i like these with plenty of yeast character and this one has that...

Look: Clear dark gold. One finger of foamy white head that quickly dissipates.

Smell: Bubblegum, banana, orange peel.

Taste: Mild orange and cloves before suddenly turning very metallic, like sucking on a penny. No noticeable hop flavor or bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Slightly thin, very high carbonation.

Overall: A rather poor example of a hefeweizen. Drinkable, but not memorable or something I would buy again.

Acquired from Trader Joe;s bottom shelf for the low. I am a big fan of many German style beers already, especially of Hefes.

L: A very effervescent bubbly head forms, wild and retained. Amber-gold un color, 16. Moderate carbonation.

S: Banana, citrus, and allspice. Notes of clove and other fruit esters. Bubblegum as well all mixed together into one. Like Pepto-Bismol in banana cake. Quite sweet.

T: Gummy, very bubble gummy followed by citrus. Banana and spice lighter than on the nose. A rather letdown.

F: Light while unfiltered. Low carbonation and no bitterness.

This Hefe was anticlimactic after the nose. The taste was rather boring and there was not much to work with on the mouthfeel. The nose promised a sweetness that was absent on the tongue. It could have been heftier, breadier, as well.

 

 

12 fl oz brown glass bottle:

Sharply carbonated but mostly balanced.

A decent budget American brewed hefeweizen.

C / AVERAGE

Deep golden bronze, soft head dissipates quickly. Great aroma of banana bread and spice, clove strongest but aroma fades. Flavor close to nose with more prominent spiciness but not much else. Smooth drinking, refreshing.

 

 

Great flavor of banana and clove. Bottle also says citrus and bubblegum, which are detectable once aware of. An enjoyable drink and something a bit different than I'm used to with the style.