Brave New Wheat
Church-Key Brewing Company

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Church-Key Brewing Company
 
Ontario, Canada
Style:
Weizenbock
ABV:
8%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
3.66 | pDev: 11.75%
Reviews:
3
Ratings:
3
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Mar 05, 2009
Added:
Feb 12, 2009
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by bobsy:
Photo of bobsy
Reviewed by bobsy from Canada (ON)

3.19/5  rDev -12.8%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5
As time plods on I've found that I'm appreciating the subtleties of wheat beers more and more, and news of a local weizenbock provoked a good deal of excitement in me. You see, I don't live in Bavaria, and we don't get many weizenbocks in the great white north. The only other Canadian offering I've had (a stellar interpretation from the Halifax brewery, Garrison) blew me out of the water, so on a frustrating day I find myself at C'est What hoping that the server isn't going to inform me that its off tap. She doesn't, and I'm presented with a nearly headless hazy amber liquid in a pint glass. No weizen glass here, and no expert pour to generate anything like the requisite head, but that's the bar's, not the brewer's fault. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have also been short-poured, and I take this as an opportunity to agitate the liquid and get close to the beer's intended appearance. It works, and I soon have an effusively white head that sticks the course, occasionally giving parts of itself as farewell mementos to the glass it will never see again.

I stick my nose in and breathe deep, but I get nothing. I repeat again, and still there is very little, and the only thing I attract is a curious glance from a lady drinking coffee. The aroma is far more subdued than I expected, and takes a long time to betray any hint of what lies beneath. When it does appear (after considerable time) its pleasant enough, without being exceptional. Sweet malts dominate the spicing, and ti has a clean wheat element. I'm reminded a little of sweetened porridge.

While its no Aventinus, the flavour is good, and particularly impressive for a local brewer. Ontario beer producers are in general a cautious bunch, but Church-Key bucks the trend, have released meads, biere de gardes and flanders oud bruins in the past. The wheat presence is strong, smooth and creamy, and this provides an excellent backbone for the spicing to play against. As expected, cloves mingle with a pleasant sweet yeastiness, but could be ramped up a little. The whole beer has great esters throughout, and this combines with the quality of the wheat to really shine right through to the long-burning aftertaste.

The body, however, is a bit of a weak point, and lets the beer down slightly. Its a little rough and perhaps rashly over-carbonated, although there's nothing here that some concerted swirling of the glass could not fix. As I swirl the head kicks back up again with the carbonation release, and the aroma becomes more apparent, with sweet estery notes enticing my senses.

I feel this is a solid, if a little imbalanced, offering from a decent brewery. I greatly appreciate the effort that's been made in putting a rarer style of a seemingly unadventurous market, and with a few tweaks (particularly in the mouthfeel) this could be an exceptional beer.
Mar 05, 2009
More User Ratings:
Photo of Mindsquall
Reviewed by Mindsquall from Canada (ON)

4.22/5  rDev +15.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
On-tap at the Winking Judge, this came to me a dark amber with a lot of thick head typical of a wheat beer. Smell was very wheaty with some slight banana-clove in there. Flavor was interesting, The wheat presence was very dominant in the body, sthe aftertaste was of fresh grains, very pleasant. Mouthfeel was refreshing, slightly carbonated, quite nice. It is however quite strong, not something you can drink a ton of, but still very nice nonetheless.

Compared to original German versions of this style, this holds it's own quite well. Recommended.
Feb 18, 2009
Photo of Sammy
Reviewed by Sammy from Canada (ON)

3.57/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
A sweet smelling wheat malt yeasty beer at Magpie. Long lasting white head on whitish body. Aggressively carbonated, other than that above average mouthfeel. Spicey, yeasty sweetish. The hops are there. Drinkable, though not knocked over as I have with some represenatives of this style.
Feb 12, 2009
Brave New Wheat from Church-Key Brewing Company
Beer rating: 3.66 out of 5 with 3 ratings