Trail Angel Weiss
Devils Backbone Brewing Company

 

 

 

Poured a hazy very pale yellow with a one finger fizzy white head that dissipated quickly to a slight film. Not at all what a good hefe should look like. Aroma is very faint of wheat, malt and ??? Taste is light malt with the faintest banana and clove flavor. A lingering seltzer water finish takes away any promise that this is anywhere close to a Munich Hefe. And . . . to think I chose this over Weihenstephaner. Feel? Like flavored seltzer water. Overall - Disappointed.

 

 

Devils Backbone Brewing Company "Trail Angel Weiss"
12 fl. oz. brown glass bottle, coded "03.28.18 17:41 82"
$1.83 @ Cherry Hill Wine, Liquor & Beer (Wegmans), Cherry Hill, NJ

Look: Very hazy straw gold body. Short head of bright white. Limited head retention and lacing.

Smell: Banana, grainy malt, soft clove.

Taste: Banana, grainy malt, soft clove. Some additional apple-like fruitiness. Wheat. Moderately bitter.

Feel: Medium-light in body and crisp.

Overall: A very nice, refreshing, and easy-drinking weissbier.

Review# 6,383

 

 

 

Pours a slightly cloudy, pale yellow with a white head that fizzes away rapidly. Scent has notes of wheat, yeast, and must. Flavor is cloves, wheat, hint of banana, The flavors tend towards being quite muted, of those the clove is the most prominent, Crisp, lighter body with a good amount of carbonation. As something to drink during a hot summer day, this works rather well. Easy to drink, won't offend other flavors. That said there isn't much else to say about this beer.

Last bottle from the variety pack earlier this summer -- bottling date is 4/18/18, so not brand new but not super old either.

The beer is yellow in color and slightly hazy, with a moderate amount of rising bubbles. When first poured there was a thin layer of foam on top, but it's already almost vanished. A bit odd in the looks department for a hefeweizen, considering the lack of both haziness and head.

Smell is a bit hard to describe; there's some wheatiness and also an unusual smell that I'm not really familiar with. I'm assuming some kind of yeast-related thing, though it's pretty far removed from the banana-like thing I've noticed in a lot of other yeasty beers. My girlfriend commented on the smell/taste being similar to a dry white wine, and thinking about it now I can definitely see a resemblance.

Flavor is similar to the smell, but seems a bit more muted? Which is unusual, considering that the first time I had this the unidentifiable flavor (similar to the smell that I mentioned above) was almost overpowering. Some wheatiness, the odd almost-wine-like flavor, and a bit of something else that seems almost acidic -- not quite full-on sour but there's definitely something bordering on that range when I first take a sip, a bit of a sourish taste and a more acidic mouthfeel for a moment. Just noticed that a bit of banana-y yeast flavor does pop up in burps, so it isn't completely absent like I'd originally thought. I'm wondering if the almost-wine-like flavor's overpowering presence the first time I had this beer was just because I wasn't used to it, because I don't recall it seeming as strong on bottle #2 either and now it's toned down to the point where it's pleasantly mingling with the other flavors rather than standing out. There wasn't a lot of time between me drinking the first and second bottles, so I'm guessing it isn't just fading with age. Now that I think about it, it seems like this beer's odd flavor is the same one that another Devil's Backbone wheat beer had -- Tropical Thunder from one of the collaboration variety packs. The difference was in that beer, the weird flavor was totally absent when I had it on tap at the brewery... but overwhelmingly strong in the bottles from the variety pack! It was like they were two totally different beers -- which makes me wonder if this one is also extremely different on tap vs. bottled.

Mouthfeel is interesting -- as mentioned above there's an almost acidic twang to it upon first taking a sip, and there's a nice bubbliness to it as well, more than I would have expected going by the appearance. The feel of it might just be my favorite aspect of this beer.

Overall, kind of an oddball beer that I'm not really sure what to think of. Not one I'd buy a six-pack of for sure, but I'd drink them if they turned up in another variety pack down the line... though they'd probably be the last bottles hanging around in my fridge from the pack, just like this was. I did find this one a good bit more enjoyable this time than the other times I've had it (bottle #1's unidentifiable flavor was so harsh that I barely managed to finish it), so it seems it's grown on me. I wonder if DB uses some weird yeast for their hefeweizen-type beers, or maybe they do something else different in the brewing process of these beers to make the yeast throw off more of this flavor than usual?

 

 

 

This one has me CANfounded as the founder of The CANQuest (tm)! My local, in-person trader, @tone77, thanks me for a CAN that he reviewed on 07 Sept 2015. Mine is a fairly fresh CAN procured from the FGBS, so what happened to what should have been my original CAN & review/rating? Very odd.

From the CAN: "Wheat Beer"; "Bavarian Style Weiss"; "Virginia Heartland".

I Crack!ed open the vent & given that it was a Hefeweizen, I decided to go with an inverted Glug to get things moving. This resulted in two fingers of fizzy, foamy, bone-white head with low retention that quickly fell away to wisps. Color was Straw-Yellow (SRM = > 2, < 4) and with just a light haziness. What?!? This is supposed to be cloudy! Nose had a wheat-like tartness, but where were the bananas? Where were the cloves? Mouthfeel was thin & watery. The taste was odd, kind of sour, but lacking any of the attributes of a Hefeweizen. This really struck me as more towards an American Pale Wheat Ale, and not a very good one, at that. It had the slight sourness of wheat, but without much else. I CANnot envision a more boring, one-dimensional beer. Finish was semi-dry, but it just lacked much in the way of taste.

 

A: Golden-blonde hue, though head forms quite creamy with rather poor retention, leaving behind a thin string of lace around the edges.

S + T: Clove aromas are prominent, with fruity esters following up--the typical banana-like scents. A touch of wheat grains round it out. Flavour is also heavy on clove, as well. Perhaps a touch of bubble-gum on the finish in addition to a little spiciness.

M + O: Medium bodied, effervescent carbonation--body feels fuller to begin and lightens up toward the finish. An easy drinking, fairly standard weiss.

Light golden hazy look. Crisp, spicy aroma also letting you know there will be some bitter characteristics. Taste is initially "thin" but then fills out and expands somewhat with some of the spiciness encountered in the smell along with floral flavors. After multiple drinks, I'm getting a certain regular level of sweetness (for lack of a better word) and any bitter notes have seemingly disappeared. Had this on a July late afternoon on my front porch and it fit the occasion well.