Uncle Daddy
The Alchemist

 

On tap at the brewpub on November 4, 2010.

Pours a very cloudy yellow-straw color with a two-finger white head and a bit of lacing. Creamy head on this one. The nose brings some banana, bubblegum, light clove, and a touch of earthiness. The taste is is all about the German yeast and takes on some really nice tones. It's a bit delicate, but quite nice. Good body and carbonation. A really nice, easy-drinking beer and I was surprised to see the high ABV.

Off their tap this Hef was a classic, cloudy, yellow color with a big, three-finger head of snowy white foam. The retention and lacing (in droopy sheets) were both great and the beer had an appealing bronze ring around the meniscus. The aroma was like a fruit basket, bananas, apricots and various citrus. Yum! The flavors were equally complex and impressive. Starting with a slightly tart note it then became spicy-sweet with nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon before it became fruity and grainy as one would expect with a little nip/twang from the wheat. The finish was strangely of squash and pumpkin with hints of vanilla. Outrageous complexity. The mouthfeel was velvety smooth though it was a little sticky, the body was medium and the carbonation soft. Sessionable and enjoyable yet complex and unique. Can they do no wrong?

Sampled on 11/21/08. Notes taken at bar:

Description from Menu:
"An Alchemist first timer. A pumpkin hefeweizen. Whole nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla bean, add a spicy finish to the 75# of sugar pumpkins added throughout."

A- Appears the typical hefe with haze and appropriate color but with perhaps a bit less head retention and not much lacing.

S- Distinctively hefe with notes of banana and bubblegum primarily. Subtle underlying of clove and various spices.

T- Without thinking about it too much, the taste mirrors the smell for the most part. But when you start looking for subtleties they're everywhere, the most interesting of which I found to be the vanilla flavor.

M- Could stand to be just slightly more carbonated I think.

D- Such an interesting experiment, and it came out wonderfully. High marks for taking a chance on this one. I would have never thought to combine all those ingredients in a hefeweizen, but the meld together beautifully.

Served on tap at the Cambridge Brewing Company during their Great Pumpkin Festival on 10/31/08. Served in a Weizen glass.

Pours a cloudy burnt orange with a thin head of fizzy brite-white foam around the edges and some thin wisps in the center. Moderate lacing is left behind. This has a classic Weizenbock look to me. The aroma is awesome and I don't know quite where to begin with this guy. Pumpkin & wheat, cinnamon, clove, yeasty banana esters, and the silky scent of vanilla sweetness that wafts along the back. Delicious!

The taste is pumpkin meat and some sweet wheat notes with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove spicing things up and a flush of bananas and vanilla towards the back. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with a relatively flat carbonation and beefier feel but still goes down extrememly well for the size of this.

Well colored me impressed! They seem to have hit the head with what they were trying here. A jacked up Pumpkin Hefe, but with a thicker feel and higher ABV, this really came off more like a Weizenbock to me. Absolutely delicous and once again, very easy drinking for the size. I really enjoyed this.

A: Pours a nice cloudy straw color with not much head. Not a whole lot of lacing either.

S: The smell is of cloves and subtle banana. Not much from the other spices here.

T: Wow, all of the flavors mesh so well together. Cloves, banana, pumpkin pie spices. I am not typically a fan of hefeweizen because of the dominant banana and clove flavors but this one is completely different.

M: Very smooth, well carbonated, crisp, dry.

D: Awesome. Forgetting about the alcohol content for a second I would drink this all day.

Described as a pumpkin hefeweizen with whole nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla bean.

Pours a cloudy, whitish-blonde color with a one-finger head.

Aroma consists of wheat and a very faint hint of nutmeg/vanilla bean on the nose.

Taste is smooth with faint hints of wheat, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla bean.

Mouthfeel is where it's at. Spicy with the cinnamon and nutmeg and a bit of vanilla bean present. Definitely not the typical mouthfeel of a hefeweizen. Not a typical pumpkin ale either.

The mouthfeel alone makes this a beer worth trying. Otherwise, it's a solid hefeweizen with a mouthfeel that is boosted to give it more of a seasonal feel. Worth a shot and if you're used to the typical pumpkin ales and you want something different, check it out.