Hefé Royale
Keweenaw Brewing Company

My go-to local hefe. So fortunate to have this brewery provide so many enjoyable beers to the area, this being one of my most favorite. I absolutely love the crisp flavors. Could drink this all year round if it were available.
Keep it up KBC!

 

Poured can into a pint glass, two finger head that slowly dissipated to a very slight ring of foam, no lacing. Smell of dank and cloves. Taste of clove and banana, the banana esters become more pronounced as it warms (both taste and smell). Pleasant mouthfeel, a bit of a peppery aftertaste. Overall, one of the better American-made hefeweizens I've had in a while (next one I'll have in my Weihenstephaner glass).

 

 

 

$ 10.50 (Including tax)/six-pack of 12 oz cans ($ 0.146/oz) from local stop ‘n rob, Houghton, MI. Reviewed 7/28/18.
Undated can. Stored at 42 degrees and served at 42 degrees in a hand-washed and dried glass coffee mug.
Appearance – 3.5.
Body – Yellow, clear, effervescent.
Head – Huge (Maximum seven cm, aggressive center pour), white, mousse-like, slowly diminishing to a three mm ring and complete layer.
Lacing – Poor. Just a couple of tiny islands.
First pour – Light yellow, clear.
Aroma – 4 – Yeasty, clove.
Flavor – 3 – Begins with yeast and some wheat, with a bit of clove but no detectable banana. No alcohol, no diacetyl, no dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 3 – Medium, watery, soft carbonation.
Impression and summation – 3.25 – An average take on the hefeweizen style. Cheap and drinkable.

 

 

 

 

12 ounce can into weizen glass; no can dating, but is a recent release. Pours lightly hazy pale golden/straw color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of lemon, pear, apple, banana, bubblegum, peppercorn, clove, wheat, white bread dough, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of fruity/spicy yeast, pale malt, and light earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of lemon, pear, apple, banana, bubblegum, peppercorn, clove, wheat, white bread dough, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal/grassy hop bitterness, yeast spiciness, and wheat tang/tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of lemon, pear, apple, banana, bubblegum, peppercorn, clove, wheat, white bread dough, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, pale malt, and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and zero cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Moderate increasing dryness from bitter/spiciness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and light body; with a very smooth, crisp, clean, fairly grainy, and lightly sticky mouthfeel that is good. Quite thin feeling for the style, but not watery. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5%. Overall this is a nice hefeweizen. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/spicy yeast, pale malt, and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink. Really well balanced and nicely flavorful for the ABV; though lacking on body, is still very pleasant and nicely enjoyable. Nice example of the style as well.

 

I picked up a can of Keweenaw Brewing's Hefe Royale yesterday for $1.59 at The Lager Mill. I'm in the mood for a nice Hefeweizen today and I'm interested to see what Keweenaw can do with this style, so lets see how it goes. 2017 Vintage. Poured from a 12oz can into a Weizen glass.

A- The can looks nice, it's got a nice design and it's a little eye catching. It poured a slightly hazy golden color that took on more of a yellow color when held to the light and it had a little over three fingers worth of fluffy and fizzy white head that died down to a thin ring that eventually faded away and it left some spotty lacing behind. This is a pretty nice looking beer, I have no complaints.

S- The aroma starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the yeast being the first to show up and it imparts some typical banana and clove aromas with no single one seeming to stick out the most. Up next comes a little more fruity aromas with a slight stone fruity aroma that goes right into the malts which impart some wheat, grainy, doughy and sweet malt aspects with the wheat seeming to stick out the most. This beer has a pretty nice aroma, it's what I would expect from the style and the balance seemed nice.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma, but lighter and it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the yeast still being the first to show up and this time the banana doesn't show up too much with cloves sticking out the most and a little bit more of those stone fruit aspects come through. Up next comes the malts which impart all the same the same aspects that that they did in the aroma, but this time they are lighter with a little bit of a watery flavor to it. On the finish it's a little watery with some yeast and malt flavors showing up in the aftertaste. This is a solid taste Hefe, but it could use a little more malty flavors and more balance when it came to the yeast.

M- Smooth, a little crisp, slightly refreshing, medium bodied with a slightly lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is pretty nice and it works well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a nice beer and it's a solid example of the style, but I did find to be rough around the edges especially when it came to the taste and drinkability and that ended up holding this beer back in the end. This beer had ok drinkability, one is enough for me, it's a little to watery tasting for me to have more than that. What I like the most about this beer is the aroma, it was nice and it's pretty true to style. What I like the least about this beer is the watery flavor and the drinkability, those two aspects could use some work. I don't think I would buy this beer again and I can't say I would recommend it on;y because it's a little too watery and it's not too hard to find a better example of the style. All in all I didn't this beer, but it for sure needs some work if it wasn't to be up there with some of the better american made examples of the style. It's not a favorite beer from Keweenaw and it's a solid example of the style. Solid job guys, but with a little more work this could be a better beer.

 

 

 

 

Pours light hazy, orange. Thick, medium, white head that fades slowly to a lasting cap with light lacing.

Smells doughy malt, clove, banana and light citrus.

Tastes light banana, clove, orange peel and light doughy malt. Finish is dry with a light yeast and grainy linger. Medium body and creamy, soft medium carbonation.