Wheat Beer with Hop Attitude
Written: Jun 02 '04 (Updated Jun 02 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Very foamy; Interesting hop flavor
Cons: Harder to find than other Sierra Nevada products; Little wheat taste
The Bottom Line: This is a fairly good, acceptable wheat beer that will satisfy those who like their wheat beer to have some hop- infused attitude
|
|
|
| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Sierra Nevada Wheat Beer |
Sierra Nevada is one of America’s premier craft- brewing operations. With its products available for sale in all 50 states, this national brewer can be counted on to have at least one or two of its products on display in most any well- stocked retail beer outlet.
One other thing that Sierra Nevada can always be counted on is its ability to brew good- tasting craft beer products. Most every beer lover in America has sampled Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Stout, and Porter and most every one of us can agree that all three of these products are noteworthy in some way. But even the lesser- known products of Sierra Nevada still have their merits, even if some of them are not quite as tasty as the brewery’s flagship styles. One of these harder to find Sierra Nevada products is also the subject of this review. It’s Sierra Nevada Wheat, an unfiltered wheat beer that is brewed for refreshment.
Basic Characteristics of This Beer:
Poured from the bottle, Sierra Nevada Wheat has certain characteristics that immediately set it apart from other wheat beer. First of all, the head of foam produced by this beer is solid and creamy, and the fizzing action is fast and very bubbly. The body of the beer is golden/straw in color, a little bit cloudy, and the nose is one of hops with a touch of fruit. The heavy foam leaves lace all over the sides of your favorite beer mug and, after a little bit of time passes by, the lace begins to break up a little bit, leaving a sparkling array of tiny bubbles.
This beer has a grainy flavor profile that starts out sweet and then quickly finishes dry and tart, with the taste of hops and fruit dominating. I could detect what seemed like a combination of lemon and grapefruit flavors as I drank and I could taste the spiciness of the hops in the finish, along with pale malt. Because of the creaminess of the foam, the beer also seemed a little bit soapy in texture.
Sierra Nevada brews this beer using two- row pale barley malt, dextrin, and wheat malt, along with perle hops, spalt hops, and ale yeast. The final product has a bitterness level of 27 IBU and the alcohol level by volume is 4.4 percent.
Food Compatibility:
This beer seems tailor- made for a spicy chicken dish. I think it would go well with Cajun chicken, spicy turkey, and any other light meat dinner especially where spices and seasoning are a major part of the taste of the meat. It would also make a good companion to fish, particularly if there were spices and/or lemon seasoning added.
Final Thoughts:
Sierra Nevada Wheat beer is a distinctly American product, with a taste profile that is more pronounced with hops than most other wheat beer. I have tried this product several times in the past but it has been a long time since I opened up a bottle for casual drinking. For the purpose of writing this review, I purchased two more bottles to remind myself what this beer product was really like.
As I stated in the beginning of the review, Sierra Nevada is one of a few breweries that I can always count on for producing quality beer products. This wheat beer, while not as tasty as other Sierra Nevada products, is still worth a drink from time to time. It is a little more hoppy than I would prefer my wheat beer to taste and it would be nice if the wheat flavor was a little easier to detect. But it is still an interesting product with a snappy hop flavor that lingers for quite some time after drinking. You can really feel the hop bitterness in the back of your mouth. It isn’t overly bitter, but even now, at least ten minutes after finishing my glass, I can still feel the bitter sensation of the hops on the back of my tongue.
The main reason for this unusual, lingering hop bitterness is the inclusion of Spalt hops in the brewing process. This type of hop isn’t very well- known to most people, including most beer drinkers. It is grown in the Alsace region of France and is known for its spicy character. I admit, I had to lookup a few facts on this type of hop before I wrote this review. I had forgotten some of the key traits of this type of finishing hop.
Sierra Nevada Wheat comes in red- labeled bottles and is brewed all year round. This product seems light and refreshing, like a beer one would expect to find in a lineup of summer seasonal products. But Sierra Nevada brews this product around the clock, making it one of the few wheat beers in the United States that is brewed on an annual basis.
Overall, Sierra Nevada Wheat is a fairly pleasant glass of wheat beer. The big, rocky yet creamy head of foam and the hop spiciness make for an interesting glass of beer, for summertime or anytime. A little more wheat flavor would be nice. But this is still a pretty good glass of beer that makes a good choice of drink when refreshment is desired or when eating spicy chicken, turkey, or fish dishes. Cheers!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.