Beer Garden Festweisse
Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Company)

a collaboration with schneider, which is cool in and of itself, but i wanted the beer to be better than it is, liberally hopped with cascade, which seems kind of out of place in this, and i found the beer overly estery and kind of thin as well, so a near miss on a number of levels, its kind of tangy which doesnt really make sense, seems oxidized which it shouldnt be, and has weird proportions, definitely underwhelming. hazy in the glass as is befitting of the style, but a little redder than the pale yellow i am used to in these, nice and fizzy. some sweetness in the nose but also some tiredness, wheaty yes, mineral forward, curiously twangy, the yeast is less traditional than anticipated, at least as it presents here, a hint of raisin, and spicy bitter hops which overwhelm some of the more classically german elements, which is also true in the flavor, but i actually dont mind the concept of an american hopped hefe type, its just that the execution of this seems poor, or it was handled poorly, something is just off about it. some astringency even when its cold, a toasted aspect to the grain is there, some pine from the hops, some bitterness too, but the whole thing tastes slightly chemical to me, the banana part of the yeast profile is a little pithy, i get things like pool table felt and laundry lint as well, its also got an apple cider thing going on, which i guess works to make it autumnal, but man this one really didnt quite come together for me. ill have to revisit it perhaps on a fresher palate, but this was not what i was expecting, and especially disappointing given the involvement of schneider, who i love and respect so much. what went wrong here?