Slow Roll
Blue Raven Brewery

 

a brand new hefe they were just rolling out when i was in there, to me a cleaner and better beer than their borderline offensive saison, but still amateurish and not quite dialed in, give them some grace period for being new, this shows promise, but at the same time, this is pretty basic stuff, so that its still off on the ferment is problematic, hopefully some serious learning on the fly going down here. looks alright, hazy straw yellow colored with a lighter body for the style and a short white head from the tap. it smells a little overly estery, as did their saison, even for a style that encourages some of this obviously. its past the banana and spice complex this strain usually gives to a soapy slightly chemical range, but its not way way off, and there is enough citrus fruitiness to it to still work with the earthy wheat. i like it being on the dry side, and there is still some peppery character on the swallow which helps it finish, decent balance, but the ferment remains an area of concern, stressed yeast maybe, perhaps just too hot, a little more than just fine tuning in order, but this one is at least drinkable. fine carbonation, easy texture, some minerals underneath the yeast, and some lemony and orangey notes that flatter it at temperature. a work in progress i assume, but hoping for improved beers across the board when i visit next, i had slightly higher hopes for these guys here in the early going...