Donner Weiss
Kutztown Tavern

 

 

Aspiring beer. The color and look of the beer are characteristic of the style. The flavors of spice and fruit are muted and it could be that much better if the yeast and the spices were more up-front rather than in the back ground. A pleasant lemon flavor is present. I find the hops are disconnected from the overall profile of the beer and seem to wander through at the finish rather than harmonize with the other flavors. Carbonation is subdued and not as effervescent as some bottle conditioned of the same style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brew poured out as a pale hazy yellow color. The head vanished once the lemon was added to the rim of the glass. The smell of the beer has a typical banana/clove and lemon of course. The taste of the beer has the soft wheat flavor with a subtle sweetness too. The mouthfeel was light, soft and a little watery. Overall it's a very average wheat beer to me.

I stopped into the Kutztown Tavern on Thursday, 02JUN11 for lunch prior to heading to the Reading WWII Weekend. Donner Weiss was my first bier of the trip, a pint for $4.25.

Served in a regular shaker glass, with a slice of lemon (pass!). Donner was a cloudy, pale golden straw color. It had a thin, fine white head, a light layer at most, though it did last and left nice lacing. Aroma was crisp and wheaty, with light clove and some banana. Nice so far... It was medium-bodied, and a light, airy prickly feel on the tongue, just as a Hefe should.

Flavor had some solid wheat character, with a solid clove/banana backbone. Had a little bit of bubblegum esters, and finished dry, crisp and refreshing. Not a killer version, but quite well-made all the same. Prosit!!

4 rDev +6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

1337

A - A hazy, golden-rod colored body with a thin, white head...the retention wasn't the best as it quickly fell into a broken bead...few spots of lacing

S - The nose is heavy on the clove...banana is also in the forefront...underneath I pick up bready malt, yeast, and cinnamon

T - The flavor starts with the clove...it's letting you know it's there and never becomes too much...there are some other spices lingering around (corriander and cinnamon)...the banana shines in the middle with some pale, bready malts...I'm also picking up a hint of lemon citrus...the yeast finishes the beer with a little bit more of the spices

M - Medium bodied...I liked the mouth feel...it was a bit chewy from the yeast and the spice content was nice...but then there was this metallic twang that I would pick up

D - They served the Donner Weiss with a lemon slice which I nicely put to the side...I've been to the Tavern many times and this was my first time having this one...not my favorite GABCO beer but a good try at the style

Served as a cloudy apricot-colored beer with thick white puffy head. Smell is significant for bananas, cloves and wheat. Taste is light and refreshing, being a bit milder than other beers of this style that I have tried. Somewhat thin at the finish but still enjoyable. A nice interpretation of the style.

Appears a hazy light gold with a small pure white cap that slowly fades into a collar. Little streams of carbonation pump their way up to the top of the glass.
Smell is of Bavarian yeast, banana, cream, clove, and sulfer dioxide. I asked the brewer, Chris Rafferty, about the sulfer smell and he agreed that it is there. He also said that he felt that it belonged there with the style.
Taste is of the banana, beautiful wheat, bubblegum, clove, along with that funky sulfer that is slightly obtrusive but not overly offensive.
Mouthfeel is sweet, crispy, smooth, and semi-dry.