King's Bavarian Weissbier
King Brewing Company

A - Pours with a big foamy white head, cloudy orange. Head fades to about 1 fingers worth.

S - Sour sweet smell.

T - Sweet and Sour! Really makes my mouth water.

M - Puckering, and leaves my mouth very wet and sweet.

D - Very drinkable. An awesome summer beer.

Foggy kumquat topped with several fingers of sand colored foam. This is one of the darkest weizens that I've ever seen, leading me to think that a hefty portion of toasted malt was used (we'll see). There wasn't much head generation and there isn't much lace either.

The aroma is very nice. Nice and estery, that is. Each sniff brings the scent of ripe banana to my nose, along with the usual clove that defines the style. I'm also reminded of the muskiness of fresh peach and apricot peel. Weissbier smells like it will balanced between sweet and tart, maybe even favoring the latter.

Good call on the sourness. The beer is way too unripe fruity to be good. It tastes like Granny Smith apple juice mixed with liquified Sour Patch Kids. Well, not quite, but you get the idea. It's becoming more and more obvious that Bavarian Weissbier isn't Bavarian in the least. Any reasonable hefe weizen comparisons have gone out the window.

I can still taste the clove, but it's buried so deep as to be almost unrecognizable. By the time my taste buds get over the sourness shock, the beer is gone and no further appreciation of the flavor profile is possible. This will be a tough 12 ounces to get through.

The mouthfeel is thin to the point of wateriness and the lack of enlivening carbonation doesn't help matters. In fact, it makes the fruit juice comparison that much more accurate. There's even a lingering sticky sweetness once beer leaves mouth.

I had previously never heard of King Brewing Company, yet another craft brewer (actually, a brewpub that bottles) in the state of Michigan. If Bavarian Weissbier is indicative of that they have to offer, I'm not looking forward to the other bottles that I picked up on my recent swing through the state. I can only hope that this beer is better fresh from the tap.

Cloudy, hefeweizeny, muted orange body with a disappointingly small, off-white head. Where's the head? Poured like a forced-carbonated pale ale. Nose is spicy beer bread, carrot cake, and light smoky bananas. Some yeast too. Tangy, wheaty, malt up front. Banana bread backs strong cloves and yeast. Did I mention strong cloves? Under-carbonated for the style. Proteiny feel. Seems like a good recipe, but needs more carbonation (maybe a fresher bottle would be better?). Still, not bad.

$1.79 for a 12oz bottle at Merchants in Dearborn. Pours out to a cloudy ruddy amber, much darker than expected, as dark as a dunkelweizen. Lots of muddy yeast in the bottom of the bottle. Carbonation is less than expected for the style, medium-light. Forms a soapy white head with very poor retention and absent lacing, quickly receding into a scummy ring of bubbles around the rim of the glass. The aroma is nice enough with mild cloves, brown bananas and aging red apples. Mouthfeel is smooth with a clean finish and nice aftertaste. Not gluey. Best served without all the yeast, just what you get on the pour. The taste is as expected, but much better than the looks or aroma. The low carbonation makes this go down easily. No appreciable off-flavors, but tends to run on the maltier side. Bitterness is minimal, cleanly fermented. Aftertaste has some notes of grain husk and toasted malt.

A bad looking but great tasting bavarian-style hefe. I would buy this again. Recommended.

Another fair and enjoyable offering from King Brewing in Pontiac MI. Pours out to a medium pumpkin color of orange with a head of tan / orange foam that quickly dissipated. No lace. Aromas of sweet grains and wheat, malts, biscuits and yeast were well received. Taste was good; malty yeast notes blend with starchy wheat and sweet grains, with minimal intrusion from the hops. Mouthfeel was smooth, with only touches of carbonation noted on the tongue. Drinkability is ok. Not exactly sure what they were shooting for, but this is still a pretty good beer, whatever it may be.