Weissbier - Franziskaner

Vitals:

Name: Weissbier

Style: Hefeweizen

IBU: ??

ABV: 5%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Trixie's Liquor

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a cloudy honey/straw color, with about 2.5 fingers of billowing white head. Low retention and barely any lacing on this one, with a very thin cap left over. Looks to have a good amount of carbonation and is pretty hazy.

Smell: Somewhat typical hefe smell...bananas, yeast, lemon, clove. Much less typical is some very faint (but present) scents of apple and grape. This is, as I said, a fairly typical hefe...but the extras that are thrown in there make it a slightly better smelling hefe than most.

Taste: Immediately you get wheat and yeast up front and slowly the banana, clove and spice work their way into the taste. You actually get more of a fruity finish with apple and grape to pair with the typical banana and other citrus taste. I absolutely love the complexity of this beer and how the taste shifts across the tasting. This is how a hefeweizen should taste.

Mouthfeel: This brew is creamy as hell, but also gives you a little bit of a juicy feel and some definite thirst-quenching drinkability. Not too much carbonation, which is nice...just a great overall mouthfeel for the style.

Overall Grade: A

Comments: This is everything a hefe should be. If you want a hefeweizen and this is available then this should be your choice. End of story. Get out and find it!

Cheers,

Hurls

Hop Mountain - Old Dominion Brewing Company

Vitals:

Name: Hop Mountain

Style: American Pale Ale

IBU: ??

ABV: 5.6%

Gravity: ??

Purchased at: Harris Teeter in Herndon, VA

Descriptions:

Appearance: Pours a deep ruby color with a finger of tan head, which quickly disappears. Great lacing and a very thin cap are left in its wake. The beer is translucent, but with no noticeable carbonation.

Smell: Floral and piney hops all the way with dark malts hanging out in the background. The malts definitely seem to be much darker, roasted, caramelized, etc. than typical pale ale malts. The beer smells good but it's nothing incredibly special or anything.

Taste: This is an interesting drink...starts sweet with the malts and then rolls into a muted piney hop taste, then into sweetness again. The second layer of sweetness is mostly citrus in nature, orange/grapefruit/pineapple/apple/etc. This is a very nice complexity they have going on here, but it's disappointing that you get only mostly hop bitterness and not quite as much hop flavor. I guess maybe the citrus hops flavor that would be near the end gets washed out by all of the other complex citrusy goodness they have going on there.

Mouthfeel: Light side of medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. This beer has an oily feel to it and it coats every square inch of your palate. Decent overall mouthfeel; again, nothing special there.

Overall Grade: B

Comments: A slightly above average beer, but pretty good by Northern VA craft standards. Definitely worth a try but missing that hop flavor sucks a bit; I considered giving it a B- because of that, but it's such an interesting drink and a very complex beer, so that won those lost points back.

Cheers,

Hurls