Welcome!



If you find this blog interesting I'd like to take a moment and invite you to visit

http://beerbasics.squarespace.com/

where you will find much more...



Cheers!
Peter LaFrance



Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A taste of... Tailgate Hefeweizen




Tailgate Beer Company (contract), Irvine, CA

Preface: I promised the owner of tailgate beer, Wesley Keegan, I would try all four of his beers. This is the third in the series. It is called a wheat ale and the label says it contains 5% alcohol by volume.


Appearance:
There brew has the traditional creamy cloudy straw color topped with an enthusiastic, and rather rocky, head.


Aroma:
There is almost a traditional Bavarian aroma about this beer. The moment between sip and lip also echoes the Bavarian theme.

Mouth feel:
There is a strong citric spike that gives this more of a mouth feel than you would normally know. There is also a great deal of effervescence that adds to the mouth feel. All said and done, this is a medium bodied beer.


Flavor:
I will admit this is where I have a problem with wheat beers produced in North America. The first wheat beers I ever experienced were those based on the Bavarian formula. In fact they were imported from Bavaria. In 1988 I had a chance to visit Munich during Oktoberfest and taste all six wheat beers produced and consumed right there in Bavaria. As you can understand, this has flavored my perception towards these beers that claim the qualifications of the style.


Nevertheless, there is an indentified style called American Wheat… and this is one of them.
The aroma and mouth feel are typical of Bavarian wheat beers, however, the flavor is most typical of what is called the American wheat beer. That is, there is no clove aroma or banana flavors traditionally associated to Bavarian wheat beers, to be found anywhere near this beer. It does have a citric tang to it which adds to the flavors like of the very effervescent beer that it is.


Finish:
It’s an American finish… that is to say it finish is nothing like the Bavarian wheat beers. Once again, this is typical to wheat beers brewed on the North American continent with the exception of those brewed in Québec.

Comments:
My natural prejudice aside, I can see this being a very popular beer this summer. Ice cold, it would be quite refreshing. Is also the beer I would choose to mix with sweet fruit syrups and serve on ice.

Brewery website: http://www.tailgatebeer.com/indexmain.php

What others say:
N/A on RateBeer or BeerAdvocate

No comments: