One Last Toast to Summer: Pyramid's Haywire Hefeweizen

Regular viewers of this blog must be tired of reading about "summer beers."  I'll confess:  I have become an addict to the summer beer and, as I'm not ready to let summer go, I figured I would squeak one last summer beer review into this blog.  Hence, I offer you Pyramid's Haywire Hefeweizen.

The Pyramid Brewery is located in Seattle, Washington, but I have found their beers in specialty stores across the country.  Pyramid is a mainstay in the northwest.  It is on the verge of becoming a "mainstream" brewery.  For the sophisticated beer drinker, this may be a turnoff, given that it may no longer be novel to reference the Pyramid beers.  However, any jump into the mainstream is well-deserved.  Pyramid is a respectable brewery from just about all angles.  They are located across the street from Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.  Each October, the brewery hosts a two-day concert series in the brewery parking lot to launch its winter beer.  Past acts have included Built To Spill, Presidents of the United States of America, the Dandy Warhols and numerous others.

But enough about the brewery's marketing efforts.  Let's talk about the Haywire Hefeweizen.  This beer has been around for years, but Pyramid has rebranded it this year, giving it the new name that is used in this review.  Pyramid claims it was only a name change, not a recipe change, however I, along with many others, are convinced the recipe has changed because the taste has notably improved.

The first taste of the Haywire is crisp with a subtle, citrus flavor.  I have never been a fan of "sweet" or "fruity" beers, which is why you have seen few reviews of Belgian beers.  Consequently, in my opinion, the mark of a good hefeweizen is a balance between the citrus giving it a full flavor, but not being excessively sweet.  The Haywire accomplishes just that.  In fact, it has all of the "lightness" of the pilseners that have become the staple of American mainstream beers, but has the full-bodied flavor that a pilsener could never accomplish.

Here's how Pyramid describes the Haywire:

"The standard by which all other wheat beers are judged. Our deliciously deranged American-Style Hefeweizen is an award winning take on this Bavarian classic. This refreshingly unfiltered wheat ale delivers a distinctively smooth flavor worth sharing with friends.

Original Gravity: 

12.5

Alcohol By Volume: 

5.20%

Malts: 

39% 2 Row Pale Barley, 60% Malted Wheat,1% Caramel

Hops: 

Nugget, Liberty, Mt. Hood

Availability: 

Year Round

Best Paired With: 

Fish, Salads, Poultry, Spicy Foods

Awards: 

-Gold Medal, American-Style Hefeweizen 2004 Great American Beer Festival -Bronze Medal, "American Style Wheat Ale or Lager", 2000 World Beer Cup -Silver Medal, World Beer Championships, "Weizen", 1997"

The Best of the Best: Boulevard Wheat

I have spent this summer searching beer aisles in grocery stores, liquor stores, and specialty beer stores for the best summer beers, which, in my opinion, are wheats, hefeweizens and pale ales.  This post will focus on the wheats.  There are some fantastic wheat beers out there.  But after spending a week in Kansas City, Missouri, I'm not sure that I will find another wheat beer that beats the Boulevard Wheat.  The Boulevard wheat is an unfiltered wheat.  The reason I believe it is one of the best summer beers has to do with how well-balanced it is.  It is a beer that sophisticated beer drinkers as well as light beer drinkers can enjoy.  It is a thin beer that makes it accessible to folks who would prefer drinking Bud Light or other similar, watery beers during the hot weather, but it has a tremendously smooth, rich taste that elevates over any other light beer out there.  

The Boulevard Wheat has a light, toasty flavor to it, is mildly bitter and has the standard traces of fruitiness (perhaps peach) to it that come with all wheat beers.  It isn't excessively hoppy, like many of its competitors.  Rather, it is strictly wheat.  In other words, Boulevard acknowledged its strength in the midwest and built a strong beer from it.  

Unfortunately, it is somewhat difficult to find Boulevard products outside of the midwest.  This is slowly changing, but requires a visit to the speciality stores on the east or west coast.

Here is what Boulevard has to say about its Wheat at its website:

" American-style Wheat Beer

AVAILABILITY: Year-round; bottles and draught

INGREDIENTS: Pale malt, unmalted soft red winter wheat. Magnum & Simcoe hops.

STARTING GRAVITY: 11.3 degrees Plato

ALCOHOL: 3.5% by weight, 4.4% by volume

BITTERNESS UNITS: 13 IBUs

AVERAGE EBC COLOR: 7.5

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer is a lively, refreshing ale with a naturally citrusy flavor and distinctive cloudy appearance. This easy-drinking American-style wheat beer has become our most popular offering, and the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest.

SENSORY DESCRIPTION: Subtle flavor profile with hints of wheat and grain works well as a compliment to lighter dishes. Mild sweetness compliments fruity dishes. Flavor hooks: subtle fruit

PAIRINGS: Very light foods including salads, sushi, vegetable dishes or fruity desserts. Grilled chicken and boiled, steamed or broiled seafood, breads and pizza. Feta, Gouda or Gruyere cheeses also pair well"

Beer from the Last American Frontier: Alaskan White Ale

The peculiar thing about beers from Alaskan Brewery are that, in many respects, they all taste the same. Alaskan Breweries make an Amber, a Pale, a Stout, an IPA, a smoked Porter, and a Winter and Summer Ale in addition to the White Ale. I've had most, but not all, and each, while different, carries the same distinctive spices that Alaskan Breweries are known for.

For some, this might sound like a criticism. However, the nice thing about the distinctive Alaskan Brewery flavor is that it is solid and reliable. Alaskan Breweries do not make a bad beer and the White Ale, a relatively new addition to the Alaskan reportoire, is no exception.

Anyone who has drank the Alaskan Brewery beers knows that they can be heavy beers. However, the White Ale is somewhat of a departure from this tradition. It is a crisp beer with a subtle citrus taste that is easy to drink on any occasion. It has a slightly dry finish to it. The best way to describe it is by saying it is a light beer with all of the traditional Alaskan Brewery flavors.

Here's what Alaskan Breweries has to say about its White Ale:

"Style:
Alaskan White Ale is based on a Belgian-style witbier, literally translated to "white beer." White beers, or "witbieren," are named for the suspended wheat proteins creating a cloudy appearance in this unfiltered beer.

Flavor Profile:
Alaskan White Ale has a soft, slightly sweet base with the unique spice aroma of coriander and crisp, citrus finish of orange peel. A light and effervescent body combined with the smooth palate creates a complex and delicate beer that is deliciously refreshing in any season.

History:
Popular in late 18th century Belgium before the universal use of hops as a bittering agent, Witbieren were traditionally flavored with coriander, citrus and a secret spice known only to the brewer. Alaskan Brewing recreates this historic style with Alaskan White Ale.

Ingredients:
Alaskan White Ale is made from glacier-fed water and a generous blend of the finest quality European and Pacific Northwest hop varieties, wheat and two-row specialty malts. Our water originates in the 1,500 squaremile Juneau Ice Field and from the more than 90 inches of rainfall Juneau receives each year.

Recommendations:
The crisp flavor of Alaskan White Ale pairs well with spicy foods and lighter fare including fresh salads and grilled shrimp or halibut.

Specifications:
Original Gravity: 1.047, Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%, Bitterness: 15 IBUs, Color: 7 SRM

The Story Behind the Label
Polar bears are native to the Arctic Ocean and can be found traversing through the snow, ice and open waters along the northern coastlines of Alaska. Although closely related to the brown bears of Alaska, the polar bear is classified as a marine mammal adapted to the icy climate of the Arctic. Alaskan White Ale toasts this extraordinary bear and its place at the top of the world."

Go German with Paulaner Natural Hefeweizen

Walking through the store tonight, I came across the Paulaner Hefeweizen. I had not heard of this beer before, so I figured I would pick one up. With the summer heat kicking in, I've been on a Hefeweizen kick, so I was happy to come across something new.

Honestly, I write this particular review, not because the Paulaner sticks out as one of the better Hefeweizens I've had, but rather because it is one of the more interesting that I've had.

The Paulaner Hefeweizen is a true, traditional German hefeweizen, not the type that we are more familiar with in the United States. My first reaction when I tried it was that it was extraordinarily dry beer. At first, the taste is a citrus, sweet malty flavor, but it quickly evaporates in your mouth, drying up so much that it seems as if you didn't just put a liquid in your mouth. I've always been a fan of beers that have this level of dryness.

This beer is definitely worth a try. When I first tried it, I wasn't impressed, but the more I drank of it, the more my opinion improved. It is slightly sweeter than your typical hefeweizen.

Here is what the Paulaner website has to say about it's natural Hefeweizen:

"Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier is the best-selling beer by the Paulaner Brewery. Specially produced top-fermented yeast is what gives it its unmistakeable character: sparkling light, fruity, and just a tiny bit bitter. Because it is not filtered during the brewing process, it retains its originality and the many vitamins, minerals and trace elements.

Hefe Weissbier Naturtrüb:
12.5% original wort; 5.5% alcohol; 44 kcal/100 ml"

On another note, the Paulaner website is one of the more unique brewery websites that I have seen and is worth checking out at www.paulaner.com/

The Rarest Beer I Know...oh...and Probably the Best

Three Floyds is a diamond in the rough...Indiana. Every few years they produce just 70 cases of The Dark Lord, an imperial stout that typifies this style of brew. The beer pours thick, not Guinness thick, but "I put way too many grounds in the coffee maker" thick. The head is a dark caramel and the lacing is a very tight caramel web. The body is an opaque dark brown, nearly black. For a 13% abv. (depending on how long you have been cellaring your brew), it carries the alcohol well, leaving a mostly chocolate, caramel, and coffee mouth. The coffee tones come from Starbucks coffee used in the brewing process technically making this an imperial coffee stout.

Those lucky enough to attend "Dark Lord Day," a celebration held at the brewery each time the beer is released, will be the only owners of a case of this rarity. Each case (limit one per person) is signed and dedicated by the master brewer. You can see my friend Jake got himself a case (he shared...'cause I chipped in), and we have slowly enjoyed it over 3 years now. This beer ages WELL. The alcohol increases, the flavor develops and becomes even more complex, and it still maintains a smooth texture.

If you can get a hold of one of these...DO IT. Save it for a cold winter night and drink it to warm the soul.

I'm a Loser Baby: Elysian Brewery's Loser Pale Ale

Elysian Brewery in Seattle, Washington has issued special release Loser Pale Ale to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Sub Pop Records.

I came across this beer last night in our local specialty beer store. Everybody had told me that Elysian makes great beers, but for some reason, their beers never really reached out grabbed me when I was trying to make that tough decision at the store. Some might find this surprising given the great labels on the beers, which have cartoonish god figures on the front.

But how can you resist a beer simply labeled "Loser" on the front? So I walked out of the store with my 24 ounce bottle. The label on this beer is great. It is a black and white image of the good ole grunge days of the early nineties. I'm not quite sure who is on the label, but it evokes images of Stephan Malkmus or Kurt Cobain.

When you pour this beer into a glass, it has a great copper/orange tone to it. The taste is well-balanced with a slight nod to the hops, which fits my general preferences. It starts with a hoppy, interesting grapefruit taste but finishes with a nice bitterness that is not too overdone. The grapefruit is mixes with some other spices that I can't quite figure out what they are.

Oddly enough, there is no mention of this special release at the Elysian Brewery's website.

I just tried this beer for the first time at 5 p.m. on a Thursday going into a three day weekend and I'm not sure there is a better way I could have started the weekend.

An Ale for the Slopes: Whistler's Classic Pale Ale

I have always associated pale ales with the spring and summer reasons for no particular reason other than the light, refreshing taste seems to fit well with the hot, summer weather.

I recently came across Whistler Brewing Company's Classic Pale Ale. I had never tried any of the beers from this brewery, but it the name recognition alone peaked my curiosity. For those who are not familiar with Whistler, it is a popular ski resort in British Columbia, Canada and will be the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Classic Pale Ale has a bronze color to it that is slightly darker than many pale ales.

The taste is more in tune with traditional brown ales and it has a bit of a smokey taste to it, which makes it an ideal drink after a day on the slopes in the sun. The smokey flavor may be the result of some sort of nut flavoring, but it is tough to figure out. The taste is pretty unique. It is one of the few tastes that I can not quite put my finger on, perhaps due to the mixture of the four types of hops used. It is a very crisp beer that has both a very slight bitterness and a subtle sweetness in the after taste.

Despite my tendency to categorize pale ales as spring and summer beers, the Whistler Classic Pale as definitely more accurately defined as a fall or winter beer, probably best consumed as the sun goes down in the late afternoon hours as is so typical in the northwest region of the continent.

Here is what the Whistler Brewing Company has to say about its Classic Pale Ale:

"Whistler Classic Pale Ale was developed with the ale lover in mind. This classic ale is brewed to exacting standards with no less that four specialty malts, 4 types of hop and of course, exclusively with Whistler Glacier Water. Bold and full flavoured, this is definitely an ale lovers ale.

BREWMASTER'S NOTES

Appearance:
Bright bronze with flashes of copper. A tan coloured creamy head that will lace your glass right to the last drop.

Aroma:
English hop aromas with light caramel and earthy notes.

Palate:
Characteristically crisp, slightly caramel with a wonderfully light bitterness.

Finish:
Clean, smooth and distinctive."