Moosbacher Weissbier
By John & Dad on March 2, 2008 @ 6 PM (No Comments)
Note: The Moosbacher Weissbier was reviewed by both John and Dad on different days and originally posted as two separate reviews. We usually do our combined reviews together in one post, so this post has been edited to bring you both reviews on one post.
Father Beer Love Review (March 2, 2008):
Let me start out by saying I love me some Weissbier. I bought this in Lees Summit in October last year and kept it in my stash not cellared for 5 months before I cooled it. A cellar in La. would be a pool under your house. The price tag on the bottle had a code on top of 08070216 which tells me that is was put on the shelf on Aug.2 2007 (39 years of retail taught me something). It was at least 6 months old not counting the transportation time. The label said to store it below 50 F. which wasn’t done in the store either. I’m kind of like Scrooge McDuck in like I like to store things and just have them, I can’t swim in them like he does with his money. This does not work with beer in general and as I have found out wheats in particular.
I’ll go ahead since I filled out the form and feel like must do something to account for my time. These 2 months off have really changed me (when’s Scrubs, Dr. Phil and Oprah on?) .
Beer temp. 46.7F-8.3C it poured a clear gold with a large 2 in. white head. On the 2nd pour [since I had a .5L bottle and a 12 oz. pils. glass] it became muddy, should have agitated it first. The head was fizzy and dissipated quickly with virtually no lacing. Aromas were biscuit, honey, grain, grapefruit, grass, soap and banana. Initial taste was light sweet and tart. The taste were grapefruit, lemon and something I couldn’t place but it wasn’t a good one, maybe it was the soap [it’s been a long tame since mom put soap in my mouth for bad words and have bee trying to forget the taste ever since]. I look for balance and harmony of the elements but how can you balance and harmonize BAD? I poured out the last and kept the bottle which looks like the .5L Grolsch fancy bottle you see in the cooler with the wire and the ceramic stopper. I feel that this is probably a much better beer and most of the fault was mine but I can only report what I tasted. Since we usually only give zeros to beers we pour out I gave it a giant bonus point for the bottle.
Son Beer Love Review (March 5, 2008):
This one was an intriguing beer. I actually drank and rated mine before dad did his, he just posted his to the site first. It was interesting to note some of the similarities from his review and somewhat assuring that I was able to pull out some of the same things and that my palate wasn’t just off.
First things first – it’s got a great Grolsch style bottle with the built-in flip-top. I love that. I also like the name Moosbacher. That concludes the list of things I really like.
It’s brewed by Private Landbrauerei Scheuerer over in Germany and the 500 mL bottle’s contents are settled at 5% ABV. I served it up in a pint glass. Unlike Dad, I’ve kept this refrigerated the whole time I stored it, so my review is quite a bit different from his.
The pour was impressive – a huge 3 inch head, slightly off-white and a bit frothy looking dissipated slowly, though it left no lacing. Lot of bubbles in the head were a result of the fizzy carbonation and a sparkling body golden yellow in color.
The smells were citrus, wheat, yeast, herb, slight lemon, grass and bubble gum. Something is off in the aroma though I can’t place my finger on it at first – it’s soap.
The taste is hoppy and somewhat soapy, though it gets a bit better as it warms and finally gets a slight banana edge to it. It’s not a great balance at all. Initial flavor was moderately bitter, which stayed the same throughout the finish. There is some lacing on the glass as you drink it. The aftertaste is flat though and doesn’t last long. The mouthfeel is a bit dry and though it’s drinkable (my list of beers that aren’t drinkable is a short one), I wouldn’t want another one.
This is not a top hefe – it’s unbalanced and flat. It makes me wonder if the beer is off? Either way it’s not a great example of the style. I wouldn’t do it again with all the other great hefes on the market today.
