Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse

Brewed by Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn
Style: Weizen Bock
Kelheim, Germany

Alcohol bite to it. Hops are muted and at war with a weird Belgian-y yeast thing. Just does not work for me.

Well, well, well... what on earth do we have here? I don’t know if the rumours are true in terms of this beer having U.S. hops provided by Brooklyn, but it does certainly have a slightly U.S. hop conc. Instantly on opening the bottle I’m greeted with big floral aromatics reminiscent of Simcoe, or Warrior type hops, big perfumed aroma, then behind it lie pineapple, loads of tropical fruit everywhere from classic citrus and quite sharp notes right down to mellow banana, melon, passion fruit... It actually looks the business - which is a big surprise to this less than enthusiastic Weiss beer drinker. Pours orange/blonde with a pinkish hue, nice creamy looking head, doesn’t sit massively high, but it does sustain itself and keeps a creamy inviting look to it. Flavour is surprisingly big and rich with more than a fare-share of complexity. Straight up I’m hit with a good hop smack, followed by soft and quite lush undertones of more tropical fruit, lemon, banana and melon make a reappearance then into some really quite obscure flavours from the hops consisting of what tastes like dental mouth wash, floral hops, some serious perfume, soap and then some more familiar flavours of grapefruit, orange peel and so on. Finish is commendably bitter for the style. My only true criticisms concern mouth feel, which could be a little bit more lush and less sharply carbonated, but all in all I’m not even that bothered by the average palate feel, however, I do feel that the weird free form breakdown in the middle of quite strange - verging on clinical - flavours threaten to swamp the positive points, the balance needs some serious attention and tweeking to score higher in my opinion, but at the end of the day all I can say is: I tried this beer at a total whim not expecting much considering I’m not the biggest Weiss beer fan in the world (by a long shot!) but here I am actually whole heartedly enjoying this peculiar brew. Seems the answer to getting me into Weiss beer is pack the bugger full of hops. I may actually by a few more of these... As a last note, this beer reminds me of free form Jazz - an aquired taste and at times can sound like a racket, but there something most definitely accomplished in the playing that makes it something definitely worth paying attention to, and not ignoring. P.S. even the alcohol is relatively well hidden, what the f***k is going on here?!

Bottle. The aroma is very fruity (grapefruit), later on some sour smell appears, overall very refreshing. The white fizzy head stays not very long, the body is clear and orange. The taste is rather sour and medium fruity. The finish is light bitter. The body is dry and fizzy, the finish is more creamy. Carbonation is normal, the body is medium strong. A nice unusual beer.

0,5l bottle. Murky orange color with medium head. Hoppy and citric nose, a slight touch of sour milk, perhaps? Flavor is tremendous; weizen combined with brave usage of tasty hops makes a splendid and exciting new kind of brew. First time I had it was at Schneiders own pub i Munich, and it was (and still is) a great beer experience.

Bottle. Cloudy, orange color. Large white head. The aroma is pretty exciting, it smells fruits especially apricot, spices and yeast also some fragrance of soap. The flavor offers citrus, hops, yeast, dough and also some banana. Bitterness is significantly higher compared to "normal" wheat beer. Clearly an interesting beer.

Pours a deep murky orange/brown, with a nose to die for. Wafts of perfume, spice, banana, mango, toffee, just brilliant. I could sit & sniff this all night like a sad twat. The drinking though is slightly dissapointing for me, the palate is nice full, there is some nice fruit & lots of perfume, but the alcohol keeps poking its nose in. You think its going to develop into a full lush beer, but this slight dry acrid character keeps overpowering. A shame, but my nose is in heaven.

courtesy of Laurent Mousson - fully cloudy dark orange colour with some chaotic head retention; aroma of glue, litchies and melon; solidly hoppy; solid but subtle carbonation; quite sticky, sweet with a decent bitterness, good malt body; long aromatic hoppy finish with more fruity notes and some warming alcohol touch - very good!

500ml: tulip: enjoyed with my bro... great beer. Very light, bright and crisp.... loads of citrus and cloves, nice spice and sweet balance. The carbonation was medium to high and helped carry this beer along. Great warming esters on the finish... great reference to BK on this one...