Judge’s Review: 85 Rating – Redwood Brewing Co. Hefeweizen

Hefeweizen / Weissbier | Year-Round | USA

By Rick Franckhauser

Judges Rating: 85.00
Aroma: 18.00
Appearance: 6.00
Flavor: 34.00
Mouthfeel: 9.00
Overall Impression: 18.00

Redwood Brewing Company, Hefeweizen was judged as BJCP category 10A, Weissbier.
The aroma opened with an appropriate level of ripe banana and a rather peppery phenol. The phenolics came increasingly forward as the aroma progressed, combining black pepper with some clove. Unfortunately, some medicinal phenolics came through as the beer warmed, just enough to become distracting. The malt came across somewhat grainy in the aroma but a pleasant counter to the yeast profile. The aromatics continued to drift into the bubblegum realm — preferred but still out of style. I was also getting a slight fusel alcohol note.
The beer presented as a beautiful example of the style. A big creamy off-white head capped a golden-yellow beer. Some expected haze for the style added that beer glow effect, further enhanced by lots of tiny bubbles ascending. Great foam retention. The flavor presented the spicy phenols, pepper and clove up first followed by the banana esters. Wheat malt comes through nicely, and accompanied by the banana, helps to soften the spice element.
Perhaps some of the spice is coming from hops but otherwise no hop flavor is present and that is fine in this style. Hints of lemon which may be via hops or from the wheat malt are pleasant and welcome. There is also a nice hint of vanilla toward the semi-dry finish, and enough hop bitterness to keep the malt from reading overly sweet. Further, there is a nice deep maltiness to this beer but also a very low savory quality toward the very finish. Like the medicinal phenol, the savory note is just high enough to be noted and to distract from the overall enjoyment. The soft malt ends up winning the day and carries into the aftertaste.
This beer is medium bodied and creamy. There is a moderate level of carbonation, but increased carbonation would be welcomed, as it would lift the malt off the palate and reduce the somewhat “heavy” perception, as a perfect Weissbier is highly carbonated to aid in drinkability; just slightly balanced toward the soft wheat malt. The clove and banana are in balance with that hint of vanilla to round it all off. That is a difficult order to fill along with the necessity of freshness.
Overall, I would guess that if I was drinking this beer fresh off the tap at the brewery it would be much closer to Weissbier perfection. However, out of the bottle that likely traveled many miles under presumably less than ideal conditions, it had a few distractions. The beer has a wonderfully soft and rich wheat malt character, though could be improved with some slight adjustments to the phenolics, keeping them in the clove realm, more closely balanced to the banana ester.  As previously mentioned some additional carbonation would also have helped in the overall perception of balance in the beer. Having said all that, Redwood Brewing’s Hefeweizen is overall a good example of a hard style to nail.