Kloster Weizen
Capital Brewery

Looks the hefe part, has the yellow color with almost no clarity, 1/2" white head. Lays the banana on heavy, bread, clove to a lesser degree, some band aid.

Taste hit the wheat feels, gritty, sticky, mixes a relatively light body with the wheat into a chewiness. Real big on the banana bread edge, lower carbonation makes the chewiness seem rampant.

Decent stuff, dunno why they wouldn't make it anymore as German centric the beer and population of Wisconsin is. . .

 

 

Once the frothy single finger head dies down, (minimal lacing) it appears exactly as though I have a glass of orange juice. Its really quite dark opaque orange. Many many levels darker in color than any other hefeweizen I have ever seen before.

Strong banana and bubble gum scent with vanishingly minimal spicing in the scent. And that seems to be this beer's main problem: They left out the cloves and spicing. There is nothing framing the banana and wheat malt sweetness.

Taste follows the nose...but also includes a hell of a lot of umami from that turbidity-causing unfiltered yeast.

The Body is actually medium-low but comes across as misleadingly thicker than it actually is because of the heavy protein load of all that yeast. Semi-chewy in texture, but flows smoothly and well around the mouth.

Another review from back in the Marquette days. Typical hefe appearance, yellow, dense haze, average head. Solid banana yeast aroma, lays low on the clove, bready.

Pale wheat flavor, banana, banana gum, lacks any hopping it seems. Like how it is a degree chewy, but light bodied. Pretty much ends it there. No other subtleties to speak of. Banana beer. Was looking for some nuttiness to it. Mildly carbonated, would have appreciated more, would have made the banana heavy beer a little more palatable.

Not bad, but not recommended, if this was a style you're into, I can think of a dozen other offerings I'd mention first.

12 oz. bottle into a weizen glass

Pours a murky orange with a one inch off-white head on top. Quite a bit darker than the usual Hefeweizen. The head falls to a skim and leaves quite a bit of lacing.

Aroma has some slight banana, a bit of breadiness, some apple, and a bit of pear esters. Also a bit of the mandarin orange in a can smell.

Taste is bready first followed by the fruit. Again, canned mandarin oranges and pear, slight banana. A bit of a clovey character shows up as well but doesn't last. Quite sweet overall.

Mouthfeel is light bodied, good creaminess and pretty refreshing. Would be more drinkable if it tasted better.

I just didn't like this one very much. Strange flavors going on here unlike many traditional weizens.

12oz bottle acquired in trade with DavidP (thanks!).

Poured a medium and slightly hazy golden color with a smaller sized white head. Aromas of bananas, cloves and some citrus. Tastes of wheat, bananas, spices and citrus.

Notes from and tasted on: 8/20/06

Dark gold or light orange in color with light prickle and no head to speak of. The nose throws off banana hints. There is a fruity attack and spicy undertones to the flavor. The finish is clean surprisingly. The spice does leave a mild warmth in the mouth that is more pronounced than a normal residual clove flavor would be, but it still manages to give me the impression of a clean finish as nothing lingers for too long.

Appearance: Pours a lightly hazy, coppery body with a tiny white head.

Smell: Mild aroma of wheat, yeast, maybe a touch of citrus. So light!

Taste: Flavor of malted wheat with a slight tanginess. Mildly sweet hint of honey. Banana, lemon, and spice present, but it's all at rather muted levels. Finishes dry with some yeast lingering into the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Mild carbonation. Soft mouthfeel.

Drinkability: I could use a bit more carbonation, but overall it's a pleasant hefe-lite weizen.

Poured a bright yellow with alot of carbonation with a head that fell quickly. Very clear for a hefe. Sweet and fruity aroma, I did smell malt (wheat maybe??) though.The taste is slightly fruity with a lingering malt and banana hint. Very drinkable, good lawn mower beer.

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a clean Weizen glass.

It poured a hazy golden color with a high level of activity. The head was initially a little more than 1/2 inch tall but shrank down to about a 1/4 of an inch and held. I could hear the popping of the carbination!

A rich smell of clove and green banana. Sweet and fruity to the smell.

The taste is a great contrast to the smell. A little tart at first, then sweet in the very end of the finish. It tastes like a freshly picked pear. It is medium bodied.

This is just a delicious beer. I could drink it all day.

Pours a clear, honey-yellow color with a small white head.

Aroma is easy to pick up and smells like sweet oranges & wheat.

Flavor starts off with a typical wheat base sweetened by oranges. Overall, the flavor has a grainy aspect to it, and finishes slightly pungeant or musty.

Mouthful is slightly tangy, but quite light and well carbonated.

Drinkability is ok. The flavor wasn't my favorite, but it goes down easily.

Well, now I feel freakin' stupid.

Why?

Because I lived in Wisconsin for most of my life, yet I never tried this beer!

But that isn't the point of a review, so let's get to it:

In my experience, the only hefe-weizens worth drinking in America come from Wisconsin. I'm not saying that there aren't other good weizens out there, maybe I just haven't had them yet. Of those in Wisconsin, I've got to say the top of the line really and truly are (in no particular order): Sprecher's Hefe-Weiss, Great Dane's Crop Circle Wheat, New Glarus's Copper-Kettle Weiss, and Capital Kloster Weizen.

Now, each of these beers is so radically different from the next that to compare them to each other simply wouldn't make sense. Like any good German beer, each one is complex enough and unique enough to really place it in a category all its own.

But onto the Capital offering in specific:

The pour is a little bit of a letdown. The beer is very clear, like a krystal weizen. There is some chill-haze, but no real yeast. In fact, I am 90% certain this *is* a krystal-weizen, so I will review it henceforth as such. But the lack of yeast isn't the only letdown, the head is also rather pathetic. The beer looked undercarbonated for a weizen and to top things off, the head faded into nothingness far too quickly. The beer is also a pinch too dark -- probably the munich malt. It loses on persentation, but oh boy does it make up for that later on!

But, ahhh, one quick smell and I am back in business. This beer emphasizes the 'banana' aspect of weizens, and I am very much OK with that. A nice bubbly mix of esters and some spiciness from the wheat and barley. Good stuff all around.

And the taste! Rich and malty with a good dose of banana in there. Why didn't sprecher try to make mbege with this yeast rather than with cheap banana extract? A pity indeed. This tastes like a nice banana. Strangely, there is a strong presence from the barley in this beer, especially the rich nutty munich malt. I am totally OK with that, especially since the grainy malts capital uses compliment the slightly metallic finish. Ahhh, and with that, the beer comes to a nice pleasant, slightly lingering, close.

The mouthfeel is pretty much perfect. Enough of it sticks to your mouth that you know it is there, but it isn't thick or cloying. Ahhh, great stuff.

Drinkability? Bring on the mass krugs, baby. Next time I drink this beer I plan to do it by the liter!

(Served in a short Weizen glass)

A- This beer had a bright yellow crystal clear body until the last ounce of beer with a large lump of yeast fell into the glass. There was a big carbonation and the only head was a mass of a few large bubbles.

S- This beer had the strong smell of banana taffy with a light smooth wheat bread hint in the background. Not much depth to the smell.

T- The taste of dry pale malt has a light banana flavor the comes through more after it warms a bit. The finish has a carbonic acid/ club soda taste with a light hop hint.

M- The mouthfeel is light with a dry finish.

D- This beer has a big banana smell with a light dry taste and is not at all what I expected from this style. It would be nice if it had a bit more depth and character all though it is an interesting twist on this style.

Thanks to FlyingBison for coming through on this. Like an American pale wheat that has a sourness, only more aggressive wheat and carbonation. This is not a smooth hefeweizen, i.e. Town Hall. I could not finish the Capital version.Spice is sour lemon and pepper.

12oz single, Whole Foods, $1.19

appearance: poured into a hefe glass...a dark and cloudy copper-amber body, 1/2" creamy beige head with great retention...a rather dark hefe but an impressive appearance regardless

smell: big yeast aromas, pear banana, tropical fruit, well spiced, grassy citrus hops, decent but typical aroma

taste: fall out from the aroma....big and yeasty, banana and other tropical fruit, peppery spice, light grassy hops, touch of vanilla. Not the finest hefe but an interesting interpretation

mouthfeel: medium body, lemony zing

drinkability: pretty high

This brew pours a cloudy pale orange color with no head. In fact, there isn't even enough lacing to coat the top of the liquid. The aroma is rather strong. Bubblegum, bananas, and more bubblegum. It is not really what I expect from a Hefe, or any other wheat beer for that matter. The taste is a lot fainter than the aroma, but bubblegum still dominates. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with nice carbonation. Overall, this isn't a very good beer. I can't see myself buying it again.

This beer pours out a partially clear yellow with a small head. Banana and lemon aroma. Sweet and sour flavor, like a weizenbock, though it tends more toward the sweet. Not as much yeast flavor as most weizens. Finishes with a spicy hop flavor. The mouthfeel is a little thin. Drinkability is pretty good. This is a pretty good version, but there are plenty of better ones out there.

The yellow label has a picture of the WI capital in Madison.

Appearance: No head, dark golden color, not as cloudy as it should be.

Smell: Citrus odor, also somewhat of an alcohol odor.

Taste: I think this is a midway point between an American wheat and a true hefe. The banana flavor is not as present as necessary and the lemony citrus flavor is a little too present. Still very tasty overall.

Mouthfeel: Average.

Drinkability: This is not a bad beer at all, the low scores on appearance and smell will bring down my overall ranking, but this beer is not bad.

Appearance is a nice straw colored yellow. Unfortunately it's a bit weak in the head retention department.

Aroma has some banana and mild wheat with no noticeable hops. Nothing unexpected or bad, it has an interesting (good) aroma that I can't pin-down. That being said, it seems like it's missing just a little something to balance the aromas better. Still it's quite pleasant and not worth a major ding.

Slightly tart flavor with almost no bitternes or hops. Some slight fruitiness, but nothing overwhelming.

Mouthfeel is a little thin, yet a slight cloying finish appears briefly only to disappear into a clean aftertaste enticing another sip.

It's easy to have a lot of these as they go down oh so easily. I'm fortunate to have Capital in town, constantly producing a variety of high quality beers.