Hofbrauhaus Newport Sommer Weizen

Is it a new beer (August)? The description fits very closely to another beer of theirs, the Dunkelweizen (November). If it is new, what would the style be? German Hefe?

Oof. They’ve had a few like this - new names for the same thing - in the past few years. I’ll do a little digging.

http://www.hofbrauhausnewport.com/the-beer/

Here are August and November:

August - Sommer Weizen - Dark malty wheat with a banana and clove characteristics with a wonderful roasted flavor. The native Munich version from a wheat beer (5.4% Alcohol By Volume).

November - Dunkelweizen - A dark hefeweizen, lots of fruity flavors from the yeast, with good hop and malt balance along with a slightly roasted (5.4% Alcohol By Volume).

Thoughts?

If it is a new beer, I think it’s also a dunkelweizen. Has to be. The question is whether it’s just different names for the same thing. And if it’s a different beer, the next question is why? Why make multiple dunkelweizens when you’ve brewed less than 20 different beers ever?

(I’d ask MadTree the same about brewing four+ Kolsches in their first 30 or so beers.)

I have been to all of the Hofbrauhaus in the US with the except of La Vegas. The database is all messed up. Hofbrauhaus has four beers which the recipe is identical at all US locations: Light, Dunkel, Premium Lager, and Hefe Weizen. Yes Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh Hefe Weizen is Hofbrauhaus Newport Hefe Weizen. The monthly selections should all be different recipe unless the brewmaster at a certain location decided to use the same recipe and use a different name for some reason. For your particular case the dunkelweizen should have been brown and the hefeweizen should have been deep golden.

I appreciate that, but what about the two beers in question?

There is no problem with the abv being identical. The only red flag for me would be if the someone rated the Sommer Weizen and described it as brown. I would say they are different beers.

So the summer should be a hefe? Weird that they’d call it "dark" in their description, no?

And should it be aliased to the existing hefe, or is it a new one altogether?

(I’m not challenging your info, just trying to understand.)

Just called them in Newport. The guy said without question they are different beers and in order of color darkness: Sommer Weizen, Hefe Weizen, Dunkleweizen.

Yeah their description seems to be wrong. The Sommer Weizen should be bright golden.