Pretzel Wheat
Aldus Brewing Company

 

 

 

Cloudy brown pour. Smell of wet pretzels. Taste of pretzels. Damp mouthfeel.

Way too much carbonation. Had to pour out and stir up just to avoid constant burp foam. Decent flavor but probably not try again.

tasted on tap at Gather- Giant, Camp Hill.
A- medium brown, translucent thin tan head small bead
S- smell has a fresh baked bread and sweet malt scent
M- this is where it gets weird a little sour and sweet yet salty and mildly carbonated with medium body and semi dry finish
Taste - follows the smell and feel with mix of sourdough yeasty flavors with a sweet caramel malt finish with subtle salt and semi dry cider type quality
overall- This is neither bad nor good it is odd, a beer that is one I probably would not order again as the sourness seems out of place

 

 

 

This may seem counterintuitive, but thanks to my long hours at work & drinking less as a result, I am finding more beers in my backlog that I want to drink! Aldus is a small brewery in (relatively) nearby Hanover & I have been buying their bottles (gasp!) on occasion, usually to fill out a mixed sixer. It suddenly struck me that I have enough for a brewery horizontal, of which this will be the third.

From the Bottle (yikes!): "Smells like a pretzel, tastes like a pretzel, drinks like a beer. From the pretzel center of the universe we bring you Aldus Pretzel Wheat Ale. Packed with Pennsylvania Dutch pretzel flavor, slight notes of salt, and ends with a crisp lager-like finish. How do we do it? Well, a baker never asks and a brewer never tells."; "Brewed with Wege of Hanover pretzels".

They set a high bar for me with this one! They were NOT kidding when they mentioned about south-central PA & our pretzels. I personally prefer Hammond's because I have known the owners since we were all children & our dads were founding members of the Lancaster Bicycle Club. Other notables include Uncle Henry's, Martin's and over 'air, across the river, Snyder's & Wege, both in Hanover.

I simply Pop!ped off the cap & let fly with this one. It formed a brief finger of fizzy, foamy, soapy, light-tan head with low retention that quickly faded into wisps. Color was a gorgeous, unexpectedly Coppery-Brown (SRM = > 17, < 22) with NE-quality clarity and garnet highlights throughout. Nose smelled of freshly-baked dough sprinkled with salt! 8=O Mouthfeel was medium. The taste had a slightly-caramelized, freshly-baked doughiness along with a light saltiness. A liquefied hard pretzel?!?OMFG! This simply begged for a pretzel as an accompaniment. I was really impressed by what they had accomplished with this one. Finish was semi-sweet, tending towards full sweetness, held in check by the saltiness. My uncle needs to try this one as the self-proclaimed pretzel expert! YMMV.

 

I didn't add this beer, but I will be the first to review it. Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has an amber color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is like a pretzel factory, incredible. Taste is of salty pretzels, but much less pronounced than the aroma. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a unique beer worth trying.