Fisherman's Bavarian Wheat
Cape Ann Brewing Company

12oz bottle into Duvel tulip. No freshness date.

Appearance: Free pour yields a one inch frothy white head that dissipates quickly leaving no lacing. Pours a hazy copper. Occasionally leaves thin, short-lasting lacing.

Smell: At first, some clove and white bread, quickly overtaken by a sort of funky sourness... not in a good way. It's smells sort of like sugary garbage mixed with a witbier, but I don't think I got a bad bottle. The smell gets fainter as the beer warms.

Taste: Dominated by sour, dull witbier flavors; it approaches clove, approaches banana, approaches orange and lemon, but ultimately ends up watery and mildly but unpleasantly sour. Not as sweet or sugary as the smell implied. It kind of tastes like iced tea, or Kool-Aid type things without any sugar added.

Despite the sourness and mild cologne flavors, this basically tastes like someone took an average hefeweizen, poured out half of it, and filled the bottle back up with water. The drop down menu for the numerical scores label a 2 out of 5 as "Not impressed," which about sums up this beer.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied, medium carbonation, somewhere between juicy and disgustingly slick. Dry finish.

Drinkability: I would rather drink water. Or, a good hefeweizen.

It had been awhile since I had a witbier, so I was looking forward to this. Coincidentally, it's also been awhile since I've had a beer that was this bad. Happily, I was given this bottle for free.

Sidenote: While I strongly disliked the beer, the bottlecap is very nice. It has a classy black and white pic of a lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Into a pint glass (later tried in a borrowed weizen glass, no changes):

A: golden orange/yellow colored body and left a mushroom cap fizzy carbonated head that appeared for a half a minute then died. No lacing was left. Rapidly rising carbonated bubbles rose. A decent amount of sediment laid on the bottom of the glass.

S: wheat, yeasts, sourdough, and apples. The "esters" were in the background.

T: apples and the wheat that came out mostly dominant with the sourdough staying in the background.

M: highly carbonated leaving a sour and bitter aftertaste, slightly drinkable beer.

O: well, it seemed as though this was an under-yeasted hefeweizen. I doubt if I'll come back to this.

 

A 12 oz. bottle poured into a pint glass.

Reveals a strong, white head with minimal retention and no lacing. A fair amount of yeast sediment is pleasingly evident. The color is sylistically fitting and suitably cloudy.

The flavor veers more to the acidic, tangy end of the weizen spectrum, with astringently spicy yeast esters prodominating. Certainly not unpleasant, but more malt quality would help balance one's overall impression. The lack of maltiness contributing to the flavor is a little surprising, given the fullness of the mouthfeel.

On the whole, it is by no means bad, certainly a tasty beer, but a modest example of the style.

 

Picked up a bomber of this hefe from Fisherman`s in Western Mass.

Appearance is a nice honey color with one finger of white head. Its` nose has some banana, bread, not too much else. Not as fragrant as some other beers from the same style. Taste is lemon peel, soap, biscuit. MF is low, smooth finish. All in all, a pretty good hefe from this brewery out of MA.

A: Mildly cloudy, golden orange/yellow. HUGE, extra extra bubbly white head with very weak retention. hardly any lacing.

S: Wheat, yeasts, sourdough, apples. Odd aroma, almost like spoiled bananas and apples.

T/M: Granny-smith apples, yeast and sour wheat. Mild hop flavor along with other hints of caramel, malt and other lighter fruits. Light, bubbly body, highly carbonated. Sour, bitter mouthfeel.

D: Nothing special, not the greatest.

 

 

A: The beer is clear golden yellow in color and has a moderate to high amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger high white head that quickly died down but consistently left some bubbles covering the surface.
S: There are aromas of sour apples and wheat in the nose.
T: Like the smell, the taste also has some sourness with flavors of wheat and hints of citrus.
M: It feels light-bodied and somewhat watery on the palate with a high amount of carbonation.
O: The beer goes down easily but the smell and taste do not fit the style.

Bomber purchased for $3.99. Poured into a pilsner glass.

Body is hazy orange with yellow highlights. Even with an aggressive pour, I was only able to muster a minimal white head that faded quickly. Quite a lot of suspended yeast in this bottle, though I guess I should have expected that given the style.

The aroma is quite sweet, but surprisingly devoid of bubblegum. Instead, there is a heavy banana presence along with a robust yeast scent. There's also a slightly off-putting vegetal note.

Taste is very sweet. A touch of grain, wheat and yeast, but the lingering lemon-tinged sweetness is what mostly stands out. A touch of pepper and spice in the finish.

Carbonation is a light enough that it detracted from my enjoyment of the beer. This felt dead to me.

A great hefeweizen? Absolutely not, but a decent $4 bomber.

While this beer has elicited a lot of disappointed ratings, I found it reasonably pleasing. This beer pours a rusted orange color with a minimal amount of head. It presents a bountiful citrus smell with hints of wheat and banana. The taste is thin on wheat-- despite its advertising as a hefeweizen-- although the light wheat is complimented with sharp bursts of citrus flavor. The mouthfeel is light and thin with a high amount of carbonation. This beer definitely does not rely on the standard hefeweizen tropes, but stands proud enough as a unique interpretation.

Sampled at the American Craft Beer Fest in Boston on June 3, 2011. The pour was a hazy, yeasty pale yellow with a thin head. There was a rich wheat and fruity aroma. The body was on the thin watery side. The wheat was also part of the taste but it was the dry hopped finish that stood out more.