Smuttynose Wheat Wine

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

Hazy orangeish, solid cream-toned head. Nice looking. Aroma, sweet, rosy, lightly spicy, cherries and melons, a bit perfumey. Interesting texture here, a littlesour, a little spice, clovey, fruity...very odd. Nothing wrong...just weird...nothing wrong with weird. Medium bodied, tannic finish, a bit tangy. But the flavor bottom out too quickly, there’s nothing for the tongue to play with after a while, and it all drifts off faster than it ought to.... Fruit + wheat + booze, is the simple formula. While an interesting experiment, a novel take on a new style, I feel it misses the mark just a touch. 11%? Hoo, boy...it’s creeping up on me...

On tap at the Extreme Beer Fest at the Lazy Boy Saloon in White Plains, NY. Aroma was faint, highlighting slight american hops, beets, radish, and a touch of sweetness. There is a lot of vegetably sweetness in the flavor, with corn, wheat, late hop bitterness and balance. It was hard to pin down much in the way of style or ingredients in this beer. It seemed all over the board. It was toasty and sweet, thick and filling, though could have been attenuated through a bit more. I’d like to see more wheat wines, and the couple I’ve had are quite unique and interesting.

Bomber: Pours an orangy amber color, copper with a thick fluffy head that quickly dissapates. Some flowery hops on the nose are prevelant as well as a little brown sugary sweetness, yeast, wheat, bread and alcohol. The flavor is indeed a wheaty version of a barleywine. Not quite as sweet as your typical barleywine with some yeasty, bread doughy wheat flavor more so than the sweet malt characteristics usually so obvious in a standard barleywine, although as it warms its sugary sweet flavors become a little bit more obvious.