Kaplan Hat Hefeweizen
Court Avenue Brewing Company

 

Not a bad beer, had it once and they ruined it by throwing a lemon in the thing, but upon return visits I feel about it as i do all of court ave's beer. By far the best in the area! If i lived in des moines year round this brewery would be a weekly growler fill up for sure, and this beer is a very nice, light and refreshing yet full flavored authentic hefe. Wonderful mixture of wheat and citrus, once again another great court ave brew!

I had this beer while stopping in for dinner while travelling. It was gold in color and had a cloudy appearance. It was served with lemon. I had to downgrade my ranking on the nose a notch below average because the lemon dominated the nose and even with removing it, my nose was gone for it. This is a disclaimer, because its not entirely fair to the beer and was my fault for not requesting it sans lemon. I typically let brewpubs serve their stuff how they wish to however, so I don't feel too bad for the grade. The flavor was definitely grain heavy. The attack had some bite to it and was more bitter than I expected. It was very mild on the banana and the spice for a hefeweizen. I speculate that perhaps it wasn't the lemon that didn't allow me to pick it up in the nose, but rather the minimal presence of it. The beer finishes clean with little to no aftertaste. I would rank it around a B or B+ I think but my numbers may not bear that out due to the "smell" being low.

Hazy amber that became hazy bright yellow when held up to the brewpub's front window. Even though the beer was furiously carbonated, the off-white cap was beginning to rapidly deflate even as I plucked the lemon wedge off the rim of the weizen glass and deposited it in an ashtray. A thin film on top of the beer and few thin splotches of lace were all that was left after I took my first sip.

The nose was both uninteresting and weak. It was untoasted wheaty, with very little, if any, citrus. For a beer that expects to taken seriously as a hefe weizen, banana and clove were curiously absent.

Kalpan Hat uses a 50:50 grain bill, with equal parts malted barley and wheat. It could have used more of both. Unlike the nose, there was an acceptable amount of banana and clove on the palate. They managed to cover up the simple, grain-like tendencies of the malt contribution.

The result of undermalting was that the beer was too bitter, too dry and too thin. It was also too carbonated and, therefore, too harsh in the mouth. I like my hefe weizens to be at least somewhat sweet with some amount of creaminess in the mouth. As noted, the yeastiness was enjoyable. Bruised banana burps were a highlight.

I got the sense that there was a decent hefe lurking within the beer that was presented to me. Kalpan Hat Hefeweizen, however, was far from a total loss. My suggestion: keep the yeast and build a maltier beer around it.