Beer For Kings
Off Color Brewing
- From:
- Off Color Brewing
- Illinois, United States
- Style:
- Wheatwine
- ABV:
- 9%
- Score:
- +1 rating needed
- Avg:
- 4.08 | pDev: 5.64%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 6
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Oct 16, 2025
- Added:
- Mar 07, 2023
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
The parti-gyle first runnings provide a high gravity for this 9% ABV wheat wine. The first sniff bursts with cantaloupe, guava, and peach sangria notes, while the first sip is surprisingly light from the high % of modern wheat as well as einkorn wheat, believed to be the first domesticated wheat variety. The mid-body provides a resin-y boost and transitions to a moderate bitterness. The rich, intense flavor profile may make you at least partially empathize with the immense greed of the ruling class.
Brewed in collaboration with The Field Museum to celebrate the opening of the First Kings of Europe exhibit, Beer for Kings and Beer for Commoners are two different beers made from the same mash through an archaic brewing method called parti-gyling.
Pilsner, Munich, Wheat Malt, Einkorn Wheat Flakes, CaraHell, Libery Hops
Brewed in collaboration with The Field Museum to celebrate the opening of the First Kings of Europe exhibit, Beer for Kings and Beer for Commoners are two different beers made from the same mash through an archaic brewing method called parti-gyling.
Pilsner, Munich, Wheat Malt, Einkorn Wheat Flakes, CaraHell, Libery Hops
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by mschrei from Illinois
4.43/5 rDev +8.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.43/5 rDev +8.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Went to the Field Museum for the exhibit on the first kings of Europe. Saw this and had to buy it. Bronze/orange colors with fluffy head. Slightly funky and yeasty notes, a bit of caramel on the nose. Taste is bready, fruity orange, sweet notes of caramel. Medium bodied, boozy burn. Excellent beer.
Nov 03, 2023
Reviewed by 2beerdogs from California
4.06/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.06/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Thanks to FBarber, I tried the Beer for Commoners, now it's time for Beer for Kings.
Gorgeous. Orange to caramel in hue. A fluffy, silky white head rises and settles to a thin, scattered cap. A thin, streaky lacing clings to the glass in a haphazard form.
Nose is very subtle and understated. Mild, fruit-tinged, sweetness barely chimes in. The specific fruit is not discernible.
The flavor is a different story. It begins with a velvety, delicate sweetness. Caramel, buckwheat, and a hint of rye. Then notes of apple, pear, and maybe maybe candied orange. But oh, so light. I love the nuanced variety of flavors.
Mouthfeel is medium, slightly slick, low carb, and smooth. No warmth.
Overall, I find this to be a more nuanced, yet thoroughly enjoyable wheat wine. I think this would be exceedingly approachable for people who are scared off of barleywines and stronger wheat wines.
Aug 28, 2023Gorgeous. Orange to caramel in hue. A fluffy, silky white head rises and settles to a thin, scattered cap. A thin, streaky lacing clings to the glass in a haphazard form.
Nose is very subtle and understated. Mild, fruit-tinged, sweetness barely chimes in. The specific fruit is not discernible.
The flavor is a different story. It begins with a velvety, delicate sweetness. Caramel, buckwheat, and a hint of rye. Then notes of apple, pear, and maybe maybe candied orange. But oh, so light. I love the nuanced variety of flavors.
Mouthfeel is medium, slightly slick, low carb, and smooth. No warmth.
Overall, I find this to be a more nuanced, yet thoroughly enjoyable wheat wine. I think this would be exceedingly approachable for people who are scared off of barleywines and stronger wheat wines.
Reviewed by GuyFawkes from Illinois
4.25/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.25/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Canned 7/7/23; drank 8/24/23 @ the Yarchives.
Semi-opaque orange appearance.
A violent pour yielded a HUGE eggshell-colored head; decent lacing remained.
Fresh wheat bread, mild strawberry & faint caramel notes in the nose.
Medium thick mouthfeel.
Fresh wheat bread, mild strawberry & mild caramel flavors; some booze heat emerged when this warmed up.
Overall quite flavorful and enjoyable; it's good to be king!
Aug 25, 2023Semi-opaque orange appearance.
A violent pour yielded a HUGE eggshell-colored head; decent lacing remained.
Fresh wheat bread, mild strawberry & faint caramel notes in the nose.
Medium thick mouthfeel.
Fresh wheat bread, mild strawberry & mild caramel flavors; some booze heat emerged when this warmed up.
Overall quite flavorful and enjoyable; it's good to be king!
Reviewed by DIM from Pennsylvania
4.27/5 rDev +4.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.27/5 rDev +4.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
This is coming across as fresh tasting and vibrant to me. The wheat is soft and lightly grainy while the hops really pop with sweet citrus and grapes. The world needs more wheatwine. Thanks fbarber!
May 21, 2023
Reviewed by REVZEB from Illinois
3.78/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.78/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
When at the "First Kings of Europe" exhibit I just had to try the beer that went with it, it enhances the experience! Murky orange body with a dark cream colored cap. Smell has grassy hops and grains with orange and slight dark wheat. Taste is malty up front with faint wheat, but gets grainy and rustic in a hurry with pale grass, orange zest, lemon, darker and light grains, and a hit of booze in the middle of it all. Feel is thicker and smoother for style yet light, somewhat boozy with the wheat and grains in a mulled sense shaping. A fun historical endeavor
Apr 22, 2023
Reviewed by Beginner2 from Illinois
3.88/5 rDev -4.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
3.88/5 rDev -4.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
I tread softly here. I average one Wheatwine a year. Just previous to Beer For Kings (two weeks ago) was a FW/Boulevard collab that was so complex that it was well above my pay-grade to analyze and review... so I just enjoyed it. Kings is not the same tasting experience. But, I'll offer a review when I drink another of the 4-pack I just bought from The Mousetrap.
For now, the contrast in the experience of the two Wheatwines is worth noting. FW/Boulevard's is the product of master brewers and pioneers in North American barrel-aging. Added together, their experience is a half century more than OCB. So of course, FW/Boulevard produces more complex ales. And did I mention they are both owned by Duvel, a masterful hands-off manager.
But where the OCB experience excels is my Overall ratings. I offer three reasons to explain. First of all, none of the 1700+ brewers I've drunk are as funny as OCB. Their play on words in naming brews is hard to top, although most micros still seem to try. OCB's mouse mascot is hilarious and adorable. And in particular, this one-two combo of Kings (first running) and Commoners (seconds) is also a master-stroke of humorous social commentary.
Second, the humor masks marketing genius: this combo also reflects OCB's strategy of high ABV pleasers and what I call their Low-Cal Line. I drink from the latter often to make lunch better.
Third, OCB is cool and sustainable... and North America needs more of that.
3/27/23 I'm drinking a second can and I still hesitate to give a thorough review... in part also because this has not warmed up properly. But quickly... I like the foam, Smells are more winey and citrusy than I prefer after-dinner, Tastes are balanced and MouthFeel is modest. If you like hops that linger in a wheatwine, you'll like this. But I still stand behind all my Overall praise for OCB.
Mar 22, 2023For now, the contrast in the experience of the two Wheatwines is worth noting. FW/Boulevard's is the product of master brewers and pioneers in North American barrel-aging. Added together, their experience is a half century more than OCB. So of course, FW/Boulevard produces more complex ales. And did I mention they are both owned by Duvel, a masterful hands-off manager.
But where the OCB experience excels is my Overall ratings. I offer three reasons to explain. First of all, none of the 1700+ brewers I've drunk are as funny as OCB. Their play on words in naming brews is hard to top, although most micros still seem to try. OCB's mouse mascot is hilarious and adorable. And in particular, this one-two combo of Kings (first running) and Commoners (seconds) is also a master-stroke of humorous social commentary.
Second, the humor masks marketing genius: this combo also reflects OCB's strategy of high ABV pleasers and what I call their Low-Cal Line. I drink from the latter often to make lunch better.
Third, OCB is cool and sustainable... and North America needs more of that.
3/27/23 I'm drinking a second can and I still hesitate to give a thorough review... in part also because this has not warmed up properly. But quickly... I like the foam, Smells are more winey and citrusy than I prefer after-dinner, Tastes are balanced and MouthFeel is modest. If you like hops that linger in a wheatwine, you'll like this. But I still stand behind all my Overall praise for OCB.
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