German Wheat Ale
The Big Cheese Pizza Co.

 

Big spicy flavor hits you right away. It's the serious German Hefeweizen esters with plenty of cloves and banana. Fairly sweet with malt. Aroma is pretty intense. Sharp flavors give a little balance. A little woody. Hazy golden color in the pilsner glass. Quite drinkable but it's quite a rich mouthful.

On tap at the Big Cheese.

On-tap at the source itself, on to the beer:

Banana peel yellow with a lot of lace sticking to the glass and holding up above the beer. A pleasure to the eyes. Its aroma is a pleasure to the second sense, with its banana and clove and kick of bubblegum. The taste is fine, but if you don't like bubblegum, you probably won't like this one. Lots of bubblegum in this one, and to a lesser extent banana bread and wheat. With the alcohol relatively high (6.5%), it's not shy to show its strengh. Medium bodied, but "strong", yet easy enough to get down.

Not as subtle as the usual weizenbier, but still a good attempt considering this is a style American brewers can struggle at from time to time.

On-tap at The Big Cheese

A: Pours a turbid orange color (rather vibrant, in fact) with a white head.

S: Sweet malts and wheat bread are present as well as the appropriate banana and clove aromas. Notes of bubblegum are there in the background. A little bit of sweet citrus.

T: Lots of banana and clove flavors with just a hint of bubblegum. Sweet malt, bread, and wheat, and candied oranges. The flavor is good, but a little too sweet overall.

M: Medium in body with a moderate level of carbonation.

O: This was pretty good, actually, it was just too sweet to drink a ton of.

On tap at the Big Cheese in Yucaipa. Was hoping to try the Vanilla Porter, but unfortunately, that brew is not available at my location. Might have to take a trip down to Riverside to try that one. As for this one, it had the highest abv at my location, so I had to give it a try...

A - Poures amber with a one finger off white head. Not much head retention or lacing to be had here...

S - Fruity citrus notes followed by a sweet pepermint scent...

T - Apricot, bannana, wheat, and a good touch of tartness. No hint of alcohol warmth. Abv very well hidden...

M - Medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation...

D - Definitely not something that I would recommend, as there are far better Heff's out there. Given the choices however, this one is solid enough to be my go to brew at the Yucaipa location. Hoping to try the Vanilla Porter in the near future...

Cheers...

On tap at The Big Cheese after a trip to More Beer in Riverside on 7/2/2010.

Pours hazy and yellow/light brown. Silky dense head that doesnt last or lace.

Aromas include wheat, banana, booze, pepper.

Flavor is half way between an American crappy wheat beer and a real hefeweizen. The banana and pepper dominate but there is a touch of that sourness synonymous with American pale wheat ale. Also I get some graininess and a touch of booze.

Body is medium, just heavy enough to know its a real wheat beer. Overall its a bit strong and Americanized to be a traditional hefe but it could very well make a good transition beer for someone gradutating from Pyramid or Widmer hefe.