Rauch Weiss
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

 

 

 

A smoked hefe huh? What a cool idea!

a: Looks like a hefe, cloudy golden color with a short, fizzy white cap.

s: The traditional hefe smells are all here, heavy on the spicy cloves with some bananas thrown in. The smoke is certainly noticeable, but not at all obtrusive. I'm surprised this worked as well as it did.

t: This opens up as a very spicy hefe, light on the sweet bananas. The finish brings a lightly assertive smokiness. Again, I'm surprised by how much I like this.

m: Creamy, viscous body with very active, creamy carbonation. Spot-on for the style.

d: I couldn't drink these all day as I could with a traditional hefe, but it does make a nice change of pace. Very innovative.

Poured via growler, courtesy of Deuane, on 8/12/09.

A - Poured a hazy golden/peach-colored body with one-finger bubbly off-white head that settled into a patchy film and thin ring of retention, depositing a bit of spotty lace around the glass.

S - Typical wheat beer aroma with spicy clove notes, some banana sweetness and a smokey character. Smoke is subtle at first, but really opens up with plenty of meaty bacon notes and contrasting fruity characteristics.

T - Opens with plenty of spicy notes, especially clove, and fruity attributes suggesting banana and citrus fruit. Wheat malt and spicy yeast are constant throughout, which then segues into a smokey, meaty extravaganza in the backend.

M - Medium bodied with a light syrupy texture and subtle carbonation, although it is a bit watery overally. Finish is a tad dry and quite spicy on the palate.

D - Quite an intersting, complex brew here. I like the spicy, meaty qualities of this beer, which really work well together. I found this to be quite flavorful and easy to drink for a beer of such complexity.

On tap @ Iron Hill on 7/10/09. Served in an oversized mug.

Pours a hazy golden straw color, with a solid finger of fizzy yet rigid head. Retains at a sturdy level almost the whole way through the glass, leaving a fairly rich cascade of lacing back that slowly recedes down the sides of the mug. The aroma is Wow! Meaty smoke punctuates this aroma, permeating the whole way through the nose but not becoming overbearing at all. Luckily, you don't have to go too much deeper for the Weiss to come out. Tart citrus, yeasty banana, light clove, and some crisp sweetness are all coming out as equally strong to me as the smoke. Very nice melding of these two worlds here in the aroma.

The Weiss flavors stand out even stronger to me in the taste, with sweet wheat, lemon, ripe banana, and spicing, melding effortlessly with the smoky malt notes, which is just as pervasive as it was in the nose yet seems much more subtle here in the taste. Smoke lingers in the back, mixing with some redisual yeasty notes to give this a memorable finish. All of the flavors just flows so well here together, making for just an excellently flavorful and crisp quaff. The mouthfeel is lighter to medium bodied with an effortlessly easy feel to it, but there is also a bit of a solid crisp crackle to the carbonation, which gives this some added presence in the mouth.

Head brewer Paul Rutherford hit a home run with this in my view. The smoked malts add an extra layer of flavor to an already delicous and easy drinking Hefe. Its great to find a wheat beer thats a little more innovative on tap for the summer.

This came with a foamy, bubbly finger of ecru head that fairly quickly dissipated into wisps. Color was a deeply cloudy lemon-yellow. The "cheat sheet" revealed that a portion of this particular malt bill had been smoked over cherry wood chips. Tres interessant, especially since apple wood is the standard. Nose had a faintly smoky smell underlain with a yeasty mustiness. Mouthfeel was medium with a faintly smoky taste on the tongue. Finish was definitely smoky, but I found myself wishing for more. Oh well. I am an extremist.

Served at the Harrisburg Brewers Fest, one of the gems of the day.

A: The hefe is hazy, cloudy with a golden straw color. The ale is well-carbonated, I never quite got a full glass as a result of the thick white head.

S: The nose is very rauch-y, assuming such a word exists. The smoke is quite intense, nearly overwhelming the weissbier with its full meaty bite. You wouldn't think that the smoke would work but it does, creating a big aroma for the ale.

T: The weizen is subsumed by the smoke, creating a full body that the weizen struggles to support. The smoked malts are meaty, a curehouse in the glass. The wheat, while it struggles to pop through, does make its presence known with a lightly tart flavor backed by some clove and banana sweetness. A very interesting take on a weizen.

M: The mouthfeel is full, greatly augmented by the smoked malts. A little more weizen would be a good thing though.

D: I had several glasses, a very drinkable wheat beer from Iron Hill.