Valentins Weißbier
Park & Bellheimer AG

 

DATE: May 30, 2019... OCCASION: will the Raptors unseat the Dubs? Game One tonight... might as well roll out a beer that looked suspect in its oversized (.95l) can... GLASSWARE: Erdinger weisbier...pours a murky golden body, reasonably clear but sallow at its base... bubbles range from streams to bloated soloists... its head is off-white, bulbous but quickly thinning foam... tart lemon, faint bubblegum, some banana, and sugars that flirt with a lager-like intention... its body is rather pedestrian, smooth but thin and without much life... in fact, it is flat and grounded as a lager might be... a buttery finish, lingering slightly, leaves little trace but doesn't encourage the next sip with its flavor... lemon zest, bubblegum, freshly mowed hay, seltzer, dandelion, and light pepper... this works as a hefeweizen, but it isn't much more than a tart rinser.... not fresh, zesty, or flavorful enough to place this in a higher echelon...fitting for a finals without the Cavs...

 

 

I am SO ashamed! My local, in-person trader, has been inquiring as to the backlog here at Chez Woody. 8=( He is CANcerned that some of the CANs that he dropped off for the CANQuest (tm) are growing old, so I am winnowing through them in response. This seems like a good place to start - with a 0.95L (1 Qt,, .32-fl. oz) CAN! 8=O

From the (massive) CAN: "Wheat & Yeast"; "Brewed according to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516".

This monster fought me every step of the way! First, on the Crack!, the tab started to bend before the tongue finally gave 'way and was forced inside, opening the CAN. SeCANd, I had to bring a crane into position to heft this mother & once I got the Glug going, I was getting both unCANtrollable foaming as well as dribbling due to the vent being seated further away from the lip of the CAN, as in more standard-sized CANtainers. Phew. Finally, after much ado about everything, I would up with two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, French Vanilla-colored head with good retention, leaving moderate lacing in its wake. Color was a cloudy Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7). Nose smelled like the dough for banana bread! I prefer my Hefeweizens to be more clove ester-forward, but after three CANsecutive Hefeweizens, I have abandoned all hope. It's hard to dun it when such is a part of the style, but it's just not my bag. Dig?

This is why a Review vs a Rating is SO important - I CAN say whatever I want in my Review, but my Rating should be to style & NOT to personal taste. If you are Reviewing ONLY AND doing so to your personal taste, then you are doing it wrong. My $0.02.

Back from Soapbox City, mouthfeel was medium, about on par for the style. The taste pretty much followed the nose. It was very banana-ester forward with a doughy breadiness from the wheat & yeast with just a modicum of bubble gum. I CAN live with all of that, especially when the clove esters become more assertive on the finish. I would put the finish at semi-dry since it was not completely dry nor was it at all sweet at this point with the wheat also lending a slight sharpness to the equation.

This is a very good cheap and inoffensive weissbier. The biggest complaint is that it's pretty generic, but for the price-point that seems almost more like a feature than a bug.

 

 

 

Best during summer... Crisp n light

 

 

Good looking beer. Billowy white frothy head. Funky nose of banana, wheat, cloves. Taste... white bread, pear, apple, wheat, other grains, banana. Very good finish. Hoppy. Surprised by the hop presence. Good, faint malts on the back end. This is not a bad beer for the style. Thirty two ounce can went down easy. This would be a great summer time thirst quencher I would recommend over the Gose styles.

 

 

This burnt orange brew is perfectly hazy with a thick crowning of off-white froth; just as it should be. Big banana, orange and spice to the nose. Plenty of banana, orange, and peach to go around with a bit of clove and slight phenols in the finish. So creamy from start to finish and light in body of course. Really enjoying the hell out of this one. And although it may not be top tier, I consider it a very fine example of the style.

 

 

This pours very murky for the style, and slightly darker as well (amber instead of golden. Luckily, the head is very fluffy and dense. It also seems to reveal a lot of general wheat malts going by the aroma, with the esters in the background. Still, those flourishes of banana, bubblegum, and clove are fairly pleasant. Nothing is wrong with the nose, it just lacks the 'zing' of the best. Ditto the flavor profile. It starts off with a lot of wheat malt, with some banana and bubblegum esters showing up in the middle. the finish is mildly hoppy, which I like. All in all, it's a simple tasting beer that doesn't feature the defined hefeweizen characteristics of the finest (exactly as the aroma suggested). Having said that, it's reasonably satisfying and well rounded. This balance is aided by the mouthfeel - light, airy, well carbonated, and *very* crisp. Even if it's no Weihenstephaner, it's so damn poundable...and that's good considering it comes in a near liter can.

3.19/5: It's a borderline liter can of hefeweizen, enough said