Smuttynose Wheat Wine

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

22oz bottle at Columbus Tasting 2.0 - Pours amber without much head. Aromas of citrus hops, caramel malts, some alcohol and pepper. Flavor is big of alcohol.. This beer is one hot brew. caramel malts, and some definite pepper spice on the finish. Palate is warm sweet and sticky. A little hot for my tastebuds overall..

22 oz bomber from a trade w/ Kramer17801: Light amberish w/ a lasting off white head. Definite spicy alcohol and hops in this one immediately in the nose. Lightly piney and herbal, as well as with wheat malt as it warms. Alcohol comes up a bit solventy/perfumey when warmed. Other than that, the malt character is pretty basic with wheat being dominant, then a bit of caramel thrown in for good measure. Low fruitiness. Well balanced overall with a good wheat malty flavor, but some bitterness creeps into the dry finish and aftertaste. A bit of an herbal, resiny hop comes in mid palate. There is also a bit of piney hop flavor up front. Some perfumey alcohol and lemony citrus hops in the lingering aftertaste. Pretty clean of fruitiness. Lighter full body, warming alcohol, lower carbonation. Not a bad beer at all, just not really exciting for a bigger beer. Good for what it is.

Thanks go out to Slob I think for this nice offering. This has a fermented wheat/perfume flavor that just keeps me coming back for another sip. It is a amber color with barely a bubble. Has a bit of a peach flavor to it as well. Very interesting.

2005 Bomber. Thanks to gputty for this one. Pours a clear coppery yellow color with a decent eggshell head. Aroma is spicy and hoppy with a hint of alcohol and yeast. The taste was very well balanced. I was figuring it would be overly "wheaty", but I was very wrong. The taste was very caramelly, and candy like, with some added spiciness from the wheat, but just enough to let you know it was there. Alcohol is present in the end with a nice hop bitterness to follow it all up. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. My first Smutty Nose, and I have alot more to go through. Can’t wait.

Courtesy of Pailhead. Fiery copper in color with decent tan head. All Citrus up front, with nice caramel background. Very faint alcohol also appears. Flavor much the same. Nice citrus-pine hop resin up front, fades to caramelized malt through the middle. Finishes with some warming alcohol. Very light yeast is the only thing reminding you this is a "wheat wine". Nice BW regardless.

Bottle. This is the first time that I’ve actually tried a "wheat wine" before, so I have nothing to compare it to. Nonetheless, it is what it is- a BW + a wheat beer. Malty, alcohol presence of a BW w/ wheat components that make it very drinkable. 11% alcohol is well hidden.

Bottle Date 2005, Sampled July 2006.
Pours with a brilliantly clear, ruby tinged, amber color and is topped by a frothy, dense, three-finger thick tan colored head that has some definite staying power to it. The aroma has candied malt notes to it mixed with some noticeably hop notes that just seem to add to the candied note. A touch of citrus & herbal hop notes rounds out the dominant notes of caramelized grain, toffee, and an ample fruitiness that is characterized by sweet plums. It is quite interesting how the wheat notes have played out in the aromatic components in this beer; this is much lighter than your typical Barley Wine, not nearly as darkly caramelized (if that makes sense), instead there is a large sweet grain note that is just caramelized, especially when compared to a typical Barley Wine.

An solid bitterness leads from the get go, it is quite well balanced by a sweet malt note as well. Actually though this beer is certainly hop dominated; it takes on a menthol like note in the middle that lingers on and mixes with the astringent bitterness in the finish. The beer is quite light, which seems to be the signature of the wheat as opposed to a lack of gravity or alcohol. The light, yet amply sweet, wheat grain character adds just a touch of tartness and combines with the menthol note just so.

Interestingly enough, even after about a year, this could use some more time in the bottle. Perhaps a bit more age will perk up the malt complexity and mellow the hops a bit more. As it is though, this is quite tasty and I certainly could do with a few more of these in my cellar.

Bottle 2005. Pours orange amber with a quickly diminishing head. Lots of alcohol in the aroma, but as it warms, sugary dried fruits and malt come to the forefront. The wheat malt is definitely there, and reduces the rich maltiness found in a normal barleywine. The result make this very herbal, spicy and very boozy. As it warms, it improves very much, with more citrus notes coming out. This is interesting, bu the herbal and boozy thing is not working for my personal tastes. I’d like to see Smuttynose play with the recipe like they do on their other beers. They could tweak this into something great. Perhaps cellaring would help this one