Keweenaw Empress Hefeweizen

5 oz draught sample at the brewpub, late July 2006. Hazy to opaque luminous gold body with a lasting smallish head and decent lacing....huge fresh banana-clove nose, touches of ginger and allspice, perhaps a bit punchy but reasonably on-target....body very light, fluffy, lots of fruit and a touch of spiciness....at the finish, the carbonation gets a bit intense and it’s too reminiscent of lemon soda, but on the whole this is pretty decent and the best I had of the samples.

On tap at the brew pub. Pours a cloudy color of frozen banana skin with a healthy topping of white frothy head. The aroma is absolutely rich and fabulous for the style - hordes of frozen banana creamsickle pop oozes from the murky depths, followed by some mild clove spice and a touch of lemon marangue pie. I’m quite impressed with the richness of the bouquet, especially considering the fact that the beer is served in an aroma unfriendly pint glass. The flavors are also pleasing, but don’t overwhelm my taste buds quite as well as they warm my nostrils. Plenty of banana fruit with a creamy sweetness thats balanced nicely by the lightly sour wheaty, bready base. Final smack of yeasty spice and lemon peel.

This is fantastic! A nice rich thick murky golden lemon pour, with a sop of thin white foamy head. Aroma is rich in coriander, lemon and sweet pears. Flavors is extremely wheaty yet full of bubbly esters and rich fusel notes. The flavor profile is amazingly complex for the style, yet managing to maintain a smooth, crisp clean palate that is just slightly sugary and sour. Recent retastings have found this much shallower, with sour notes coming for front and the desirable esters and character having fallen back. Batch variability strikes again...