Judge’s Review: 90 Rating – Banana Foster Hef by Garage Brewing Co.

Fruit and Spice Beer | Seasonal | USA

By Jim Koebel

Judges Rating: 90
Aroma: 20
Appearance: 6
Flavor: 37
Mouthfeel: 10
Overall Impression: 17

 Banana Foster Hef by Garage Brewing Co. is a Hefeweizen-style beer brewed with banana and vanilla flavors brewed by Garage Brewing Co., judged as BJCP Category 29B. Fruit & Spice Beer.
As with other Fruit Beer examples, a Fruit & Spice beer should contain fruit and spice additions that add noticeable, but not dominant, character and complexity to the base beer style. As well as complementing the base beer, the fruit and spice additions should not merely be present as distinct parts, and should instead present a balanced union of the two.
This beer has a moderate artificial banana aroma initially. As it warms and settles, some classic Hefeweizen character comes through with wheat malt and light yeast aromas of spicy phenol. It pours a hazy gold color with a solid white head, which lasts. The banana flavor carries over into the flavor, but is not as strong and is far more natural-tasting. Overall, the flavor closely resembles a standard Hefeweizen. Grainy, lightly sweet wheat malt flavors give way to a dryish, spicy finish. It is very well carbonated with lots of enjoyable texture and medium body. 
Banana is a typical characteristic of Weizen-style beers, so in this case the banana and vanilla addition was a choice to emphasize that aspect and recreate the flavors of a Banana Foster dessert dish. It was attempted via a flavor addition rather than brewing technique (such as a particular yeast strain or targeted fermentation temperatures). The vanilla addition was not noticeable to this Expert Reviewer, but I have a hard time holding that against it. It’s a really nice Hefeweizen even if it doesn’t achieve what it attempted.