241. Heinnieweisse Weissebier

“Terrible in a can.”

Brewed by Butternuts Beer & Ale in Garrattsville, NY. Heinnieweisse has a spicy and fruity nose—it smells a bit overripe and perfume-y, but nothing is specifically identifiable, except the low levels of funkiness or mustiness that run along the edges of the beer and the DMS and corn aromas that accompany them. The flavor begins sweet, spicy, and slightly corny with some dry malt flavor—there is none of the fruit of the nose—before moving into some musty flavors in the middle along with a decent dose of unfinished graininess, and finishing with a return of the corn flavors—it ends slightly cider-y. Mouthfeel is dry, but there is almost no carbonation, so the resulting effect is a pronounced flatness; combined with the thin body, there is not a lot to work with here. We’re guessing something went horribly horribly wrong with this beer, as it tastes like some of my personal homebrewing disasters, or the corn beer I made with no barley or wheat malt, but maybe—just maybe—this is what they intended. We’ve got another one in the fridge that I’ll try for comparison’s sake, but as for now, we’ll chock this one up to brewer error, and call this one a Top 10 Worst contender.

From the Butternuts Beer & Ale website: “Traditional Hefeweizen from Germany usually taste like cardboard because by the time you drink them, they’re not fresh anymore. Chuck brews Heinnieweisse with Bavarian yeast and a 67% wheat grist approximately 5000 miles closer to your mouth than Germany giving it a rich, fully fresh palate. Pour it and see the wheat cloudiness, smell the notes of estery aroma. At 4.9 % abv you’ll taste the effervescent, sweet yet tart freshness that no farty old German can boast. And what does an Alien have to do with any of this? Ever notice how a hop looks like an Alien’s head? Look again.”

ABV: 4.9%

(2/26/2010)

P.S. He may be closer, but that ain’t helping. The second one wasn’t any better, and was another dose of pure terribleness...