Pilgrimage
Holy Mountain Brewing Company - Interbay Brewery + Taproom

 

 

Poured from 16oz can into a dimpled mug.

Appearance: medium golden hue with a dash of haze and a finger of frothy ivory foam. Not too bad, though a bit darker and clearer than I think of the style as being.

Smell: banana and clove! Not subtle, but traditional and enticing.

Taste: a nice combination of wheaty malt and phenolic yeast. This one starts straying a little bit into the bubblegum end of the spectrum, but there's still plenty of banana here to enjoy.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a decent carbonation and creaminess.

Overall: not a bad hefeweizen. I feel like the yeast could be a little bit more on the calm side than the hot phenolic side, but still quite nice.

 

16oz can

Pours a finger of white head into my wheat glass. Retention is average. Initial lacing looks questionable. Body is a nice shade of orange, cloudy, with a good amount of bubbles coming up. Looks ok so far.

Nose is loaded with clove, banana, some bubblegum, and a little sulfur at times. Seems pretty sweet. Really really nice nose, hits all the marks for a German hef.

Flavor is ok, not quite as complex as the nose. Clove comes through, maybe a little banana, no bubblegum. Malty sweetness. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, but not a lot going on.

Carbonation is actually slightly on the lower end. Body is also on the lighter side. Pretty well balanced, a little crisp and dry, but I would say it leans more towards being sweet and malty. Bitterness is barely present, and only as a means to balance things. Not bad, carbonation should be a little higher.

Drinkability is not an issue, this is tasty enough.

Appearance turned out quite poor. Zero lacing, not surprising considering the bad retention; but for a German hef this is not very acceptable.

Overall not bad. The nose really overshadows the flavor. The flavor leans pretty heavily on a malt backbone and the esters don’t shine as hard. Carbonation and appearance are certainly shortcomings.