The Fourth Tree, Felled; and a happy birthday to you, Kim!

Folks, this is the fourth and final beer from Tree Brewing that I have selected for the blog.

It is the Limited Edition Hefeweizen (Wheat Ale)! ABV 5.0%

NOTICE! This post is dedicated to my brother in-law Kim; devourer of all things meaty and delicious! Happy birthday, Kim! I know that you don't particularly enjoy beer, and that you are also quite allergic to it; so I'm going to enjoy this nice tall Hefeweizen in your honour!

Appearance: This is a very cloudy brew, and a great example of an unfiltered Hefe. Light shines through it like it would through a fog, or a frosted glass; except it's a wonderful yellow gold colour!

Aroma: Lots going on in this one! immediately I'm getting some cloves, and yeast..with a little bit of a sour tinge to it. Pretty interesting all around, I'd say.

Initial Taste: what can I say...initially it tastes like beer. It doesn't have a lot of flavour up front, a little bitterness and some clove flavour which is mostly what you are getting from the aroma. Not much else.

After Taste: This may sound like an odd combination to you, but here it is: BANANAS! I know that bananas all in caps, probably drew your eyes to the word and spoiled the surprised I'd hoped for but what else could I do?) there are faint banana flavours at the tail end of each sip, very pleasant! Not over powering at all though, very slight.

Thoughts/Conclusions: This is what I would call a Subtle and enjoyable beer. Since it's a wheat ale it is much less overt than a traditional brew that uses a toasted barley malt, and hopps. What it's lacking up front though is welcome when enjoying this beer with a meal, and does not distract from the food; but is also nice on it's own because of it's subtle yet unusual combination of clean finishing wheat malt, clove, and banana flavours.

How to impress when pouring a true Hefeweizen:

First of all the "hefe" in hefeweizen is German for "yeast. In fact yeast is added to the bottle of many true German wheat beers. Here are a few tips to show off a great hefeweizen when pouring at home for your friends!

- Pour the hefe into the glass as you normally would any beer, but stop when there is enough left in the bottle to lay it on it's side without spilling.

- rest the bottle on the table or counter on it's side, then roll the bottle back and fourth a few times to wash the yeast from the sides of the bottle into the dregs of the beer.

- pour those last few millilitres in the bottle in a circular fashion over the foamy head of the beer to bring that yeasty flavour to the forefront!

Here we have a fine example of a Weissbier "Vase"


How do you know when a style of beer is popular? When it has it's very own style of serving vessel, of course! The narrow inward taper that makes up the bottom half of the glass shows off the pale colour of the beer. It also concentrates the carbonation and supports the big foamy head that is held in that bulbous upper half.

That's all from me! Have a great long weekend, everyone. I hope you enjoy the holiday and any beer you may consume.

- The Parched Paige

P.S: Kim's birthday is actually september 5th...I posted a day later than I intended.