BJCP class week 6
Monday, March 10th, 2008It’s the 6th week of the BJCP study class/group session and this week we covered some some light beers, American wheat beers and the classic German wheat beers. Compared to the marathon, malt-fest that was last week’s study group, this is a welcome change. I’ve often used wheat beers on my beer and food tasting events so I was really looking forward to tasting these beer more in depth.
The only beer we didn’t try was the roggenbier (German rye beer) style as they are difficult to come by.
| Style (Example) | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Mouthfeel | Overall Impression | Total |
| 6A Cream Ale (Boxer Brews Cruiserweight Ale) |
7/12 | 3/3 | 14/20 | 4/5 | 5/10 | 33/50 |
| Notes: Despite the name, this style of beer is neither creamy or made with any sort of dairy byproduct. In fact, I’m not sure why this style is called a cream ale at all. In the end, it doesn’t really matter not many brewers make this style anymore. On the west coast, it is especially difficult to find an example. Our particular example was a really poor example of the style and John (our instructor) even doubts if it was truly a cream ale. Still, the exercise wasn’t a waste of time as it’s not unheard of to receive a bottle for judging and finding it completely wrong to style. |
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| 6B Blonde Ale (Pocono Blonde) |
10/12 | 3/3 | 17/20 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 42/50 |
| Notes: Blonde Ales is the ale equivalent of a pale lager. It’s meant to be the “entry-level” beer of most microbreweries. This is another beer that is difficult to find on bottle but are available at most microbreweries and brew pubs. I found our example to be sweet smelling, yet have low malt and hop aromas. For whatever reason, I had a cidery impression early on in the flavor but that disappeared as the beer either aerated and/or got warmer. It smelled like it tasted with soft, low malt and hop flavors. Definitely your entry-level beer. |
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| 6C Kölsch (Reissdorf) |
9/12 | 3/3 | 16/20 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 39/50 |
| Notes: Apparently “kölsch” (pronounced kewl-shh) is a trademarked beer style as only the 20 or so breweries located in Cologne, Germany. It’s very similar to the blonde ale, pilsner and light lager style in many aspects except that this style tends to have more fruitiness perceptible on the nose, mainly due to the ale yeasts used. I found this to be an enjoyable beer and a more flavorful substitute to an American lager. |
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| 6C Kölsch (John’s Homebrew) |
10/12 | 3/3 | 15/20 | 3/5 | 7/10 | 38/50 |
| Notes: Same style as the previous entry except the example given was John’s homebrew. He said it wasn’t a newly brewed beer in any sense of the phrase but remarkably, I rated it only a point lower than the commercial example. I felt this example had a lot of fruit on the nose ((cidery, green apples) and the high carbonation gave it a harshness that I wouldn’t expect from the style. |
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| 6D American Wheat or Rye (Sierra Nevada Wheat) |
9/12 | 3/3 | 16/20 | 4/5 | 6/10 | 38/50 |
| Notes: While a combination in name, only one particular grain is emphasized when brewing, either the wheat or the rye. Taste wise, both are very similar. For whatever reason, this beer has a wide range of characteristics that are acceptable. I would attribute most of that to the large number of variations brewed up by American brewers professional and amateur alike. The one consistent thread tying the style together is the prominence of hop characteristics from the flavor to the taste. |
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| 15A Weizen/Weissbier (Weinhenstephaner) |
10/12 | 3/3 | 17/20 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 42/50 |
| Notes: This style is the prototypical hefeweizen found at most bars, breweries and brew pubs. This style has very prominent fruity esters (clove, bananas and even bubblegum) that carry over to the flavor as well. It’s light, effervescent and easy to drink. All these good reasons for it’s surging popularity. The beer we drank is a classic example of this style. |
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| 15B Dunkelweizen (Joseph Brau Dunkelweizen) |
9/12 | 3/3 | 17/20 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 40/50 |
| Notes: I’ve written favorably about Joseph Brau in the past and this new example doesn’t disappoint either. A dunkelweizen shares many similarities to hefeweizens. The most noticeable differences are in color and flavor. I find the dunkelweizen flavor to be more complex with the addition of Munich malts. Between the two styles, I’m ordering this one. |
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| 15C Weizenbock (Schneider Aventivus) |
10/12 | 3/3 | 17/20 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 41/50 |
| Notes: As the name would imply, it’s a beer that that is a combination of weizen and bock characteristics, including the higher alcohol content. You can get a lot more of the dark fruit (raisins, prunes, dates) characteristics that any of the other wheat beers, a lot more malt, yet the clove/banana characteristics that define a typical weizen are still there, just more subdued. Out of all the “big” beers, this one is a new favorite based upon the complexity of aromas and flavors. Really, a “best of both worlds” type of beer combining weizen and bock characteristics. |
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