Ballyhoo
North Peak Brewing Company

Poured into a weizen glass, the appearance was a pale orange cloudy color with a nice two and a half finger’s worth of white foamy head that held for a good two minutes before gently dissipating. Spotty lace clung and then slid down the glass. The aroma had the specific blend of sweet banana, clove, malted wheat, earthy sweet to semi-spicy yeastiness. Subtle hints of some light bubblegum, biscuit and honey come in to settle underneath. The flavor blended in the true German fashion of the sweet to spicy yeasty esters to edge in some light pear. Nicely blended aftertaste that I expected with the balance of sweet malted wheat to spicy phenols. Finish scored the appropriate amounts of the sweet wheat to spiciness. The feel was about medium bodied with a nice crisp sessionably smooth leveled out pillowy quality rolling along my tongue. Carbonation felt good. ABV felt as projected by the brewer. Overall, an absolutely wonderful interpretation of the true style brewed by an American brewery. If I lived in this distribution, I’d be drinking this all Summer long.

12 ounce bottle into weizen glass, bottled on 5/18/2015. Pours hazy golden orange color with a 1-2 finger dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of big banana, bubblegum, clove, pear, apple, wheat, biscuit, light honey, herbal, grass, light pepper, and yeast earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and compelxity of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malt, and earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big banana, bubblegum, clove, pear, apple, wheat, biscuit, light honey, herbal, grass, light pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light earthy bitter/yeast spice on the finish; with lingering notes of banana, bubblegum, clove, pear, apple, wheat, biscuit, light honey, and herbal/yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Damn nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malt, and earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/yeast spiciness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready, and fairly crisp mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish as expected of 5%. Overall this is an excellent hefeweizen. All around great robustness, complexity, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, bready malt, and earthy hop flavors; and very smooth and crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.

12oz bottle. Poured out a hazy, yellow color with a small, white head of foam. It smelled of wheat and banana. Tasted a little chalky with some wheat notes. Odd taste.

I picked up a bottle of North Peak's Ballyhoo a couple days ago for $1.99 at The Lager Mill. It's been a little while since i've tried a new Hefeweizen and I'm interested to see what North Peak does with this style, so lets see how it goes. Bottled on 5/18/15. Poured from a brown stubby 12oz bottle into a Weizen glass.

A- The label looks nice, it's typical for this brewery and it's a little eye catching. It poured a cloudy golden orange color that took on more of a brighter orange color when held to the light with almost two fingers worth of bubbly slightly off white head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it didn't really leave any lacing behind. This is a nice looking Hefe, but i expect some more head and lacing.

S- The aroma starts of with a higher amount of sweetness with the yeast being the first to show up and it imparts some big ripe banana aromas with just a little bit of spices coming through with nutmeg like aroma seeming to stick out the most. Towards the end comes the wheat that has more of a dark wheat bread aroma with a good amount of sweet malts also showing up. This beer has a pretty nice aroma, it smells very similar to banana bread.

T- The taste seems to be very similar to the aroma and it starts off with a higher amount of sweetness with the yeast still being the first to show up and it dominates the taste with lots of Ripe bananas and some somewhat like spiced flavors. Up next comes the malts which impart the same aspects that they did in the aroma and on the finish there's no bitterness with lots of sweetness taking it's place and it had a sweet banana bread like aftertaste. This was a nice tasting beer, but I thought it was just too sweet for the style.

M- Fairly smooth, crisp, medium bodied with a higher amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is pretty nice and it works well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a decent beer and I thought it was a decent example of the style, but when it came down to it I think the sweetness started to get a little too out of hand and that took it little out of the direction of the style. This beer didn't have the best drinkability, one is enough for me since the sweetness would wear on me. What I like the most about this beer was the aroma, it smelled more like banana bread than the banana bread beer I had. What I like the least about this beer is the sweetness, I think it's just too high for the style. I don't think I would buy this beer again and i can't say I would recommend it, but If might be worth a try if you like Hefe's on the sweet side. All in all this beer wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either and it was the sweetness that held this beer back from being as good it could be. It's one of my least favorite North Peak beers and it;s just slightly above average for the style. Better luck next time guys, this one could use a little work.