WIne & Beyondfenweisse
The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company

650ml bottle - a collaboration between Grizzly Paw and the Wine & Beyond chain of liquor stores, who, admittedly, have upped their craft beer game of late. A hopfenweisse, if the terrible pun of a name didn't give it away.

This beer pours a clear, medium golden yellow colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves a low-lying berm of stringy lace around the glass as it lazily subsides.

It smells of bready and doughy cereal malt, some estery yeastiness, wet Wheat Thins, weak banana chips, a small earthy spiciness, and very tame leafy, herbal, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, a lesser biscuity wheatiness, some laid-back yeast, Breton crackers, overripe bananas, and more understated earthy, musty, and dead floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-supportive frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with nothing really ringing any alarm bells at this particular juncture. It finishes off-dry, the mixed malt pretty much running the lingering after-party.

Overall - while this comes across as a pleasant enough version of a Hefeweizen, the hoppy quotient needed to qualify it as what it claims to be seems lacking. Plus, I feel like I'm being hoodwinked, as I can find no other mention of this offering, at least by employing Google-fu.