Time for Quality, Time for Penn Weizen
Written: May 01 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Sweet, smooth and beautiful
Cons: Can't get this beer back in Texas!
The Bottom Line: Penn Weizen is one of the finest true Bavarian wheat beers brewed in America. Here's why...
|
|
|
| mrkstvns's Full Review: Degroen's Weizen |
Pittsburgh has always been one of my favorite small American cities. It is just such a wonderfully down-to-earth place that I can't help but love it! Of course it helps that they are also a great city for baseball and beer. The funiculars are a bonus!
Fortunately for me, I was sent out to Pittsburgh for the past few days. I was a bit bummed out by the rain on Saturday (which caused my beloved Bucs to have to postpone their domination of those dastardly Padres, but that's okay -- a Sunday double-header is a tough treat to beat). I've always been told that every cloud has a silver lining, and I think it's really true.
All that rain was the perfect excuse to spend some quality time indoors getting reacquainted with a few old friends I hadn't seen in a few years: namely the fine lineup of quality beers brewed by Pennsylvania Brewing Company (a convenient hop skip and jump from downtown or the stadium). The only thing that comes close to bringing as much joy to my heart as a spring evening at the diamond is a tall cool glass of well-brewed beer.
Evenin', bartender. I think I'll start my quality time with a glass of the Penn Weizen. (For the record, I am sampling the beers on-site at the brewery -- draft versions only.)
A Tall Smooth Glass of Sweet Spring Time
Appearance:
Oh, Baby! I am in love with this beer just watching the bartender pour it!
The beer kicks up an enormous big frothy white head. Very dense and tightly formed though. I could almost mistake it for a merengue. Nice golden color that's just a touch more orange than some of the hallmark Bavarian weizens. There's a substantial haze on this beer with specs of yeast sediment floating softly through the brew.
A glass of beer like this is so stunningly beautiful that it belongs in the Prado or the Louvre. Fortunately for beer lovers though, this kind of beauty is an ephemeral treat that's only for the eyes of the discerning drinker.
Aroma:
A truly good weizen is a thing of amazing olfactory beauty. Take a sniff and you'll know what I mean. This beer bears the unmistakable signature of a beer that's made with a genuine Bavarian wheat beer yeast. The banana esters just bowl me over with a strong scent that reminds me of those circus peanut candies I used to eat as a kid, but maybe with a little bit of pink Bazooka bubble gum thrown in. There's also the spicy phenolic scent of cloves that you find in the very best German examples of the style.
The smell is mostly yeast by-products, but there is also the sweet and tart scent that wheat malt always contributes to a beer. I also pick up a hint of citrus -- maybe lemon, and a little bit of soft dry grass. It is a complex brew, but with all the right elements of a real weizen.
Flavor:
Smooth, soft, and oh so very sweet.
The sweetness caught me slightly off guard because the Penn Weizen tastes to me like it has a little more residual sugar than a lot of other brands in the style have. The little descriptor cards on the bar claimed that Penn Weizen is brewed to 12.6 degrees Plato, so the beer is just a little above normal gravity. But it isn't gravity alone that makes the beer sweet, I would guess that this beer almost certainly has a lower alcohol level than some of its brethren. That coupled with the slightly higher gravity is probably why I get the sensation of this beer being fundamentally sweeter than usual. But that's a good thing...
Sweetness is really an aspect of the malt profile, and I love the way this beer plays out its hand in terms of the grain bill. Smooth malty flavor, with just a little bit of a caramel edge, and balanced against the slightly tart wheat flavor.
The beer is well balanced, but the hops are definitely subdued and very much kept in the background. Even on the aftertaste, I run my tongue around my mouth to see what I pick up, and there just isn't even a hint of the deep lasting bitterness that you often find in a beer that uses hops only for the full boil. The beer has enough hops to keep the beer from being cloying, but thankfully, not enough to get in the way of the glorious grain.
Well done!
What I Like in a Weizen...
Weizen (also known as "weissbier") is the traditional wheat beer of southern Germany. It should not be confused with the very tart and sour tasting Berliner weisse, which is a different (and far rarer) animal altogether.
Weizen is made from a blend of malted wheat and malted barley in roughly equal proportions (although the most common proportion is probably 60-40). A distinctive complex yeast strain is used which creates esters and phenols in the beer, this translates on your tongue to banana and cloves.
Traditional weizens are unfiltered and the best examples are sometimes quite cloudy. Filtered versions are also available (but Penn Weizen is not one of those). There's a lot more to say about these wonderful beers, but I've already said it in my general style overview (see the URL at the bottom of this review).
The Verdict is in...
Few beers make me wax poetic like a great weizen, and Penn Weizen is one of the best examples of the style that I've found. There are some great wheat beers being brewed in the United States today, and up until now, I thought the DeGroen's Weizen from Baltimore Brewing Company was head and shoulders above everything else on the market. After tasting Penn Weizen, I'd have to say that maybe DeGroen's is only inches over the competition. Theo DeGroen might not appreciate me saying that the race is that close, but I can sure tell you who the real winner will be -- beer drinkers like you and me!
I'll peg the Penn Weizen at 4-1/2 stars -- a truly exemplary beer that can stand up proudly next to any beer in the world. And since Epinions isn't charging me much for stars these days, I'll round it up to 5. Give it a sip and see if you don't agree!
About Pennsylvania Brewing...
Pennsylvania Brewing Company first appeared on the scopes of beer lovers in the mid 1980s when a contract-brewed version of Penn Pilsner was released. The beer recipe was one of a slew of similar-tasting beers brewed from the recipes of brewing chemist Dr. Joseph Owades (yep -- the villain who invented modern "light" beers saw the sin of his deeds and sought to redeem himself by creating lager recipes for budding craft brewers -- most based on variations of a vienna style amber). Today's Penn Pilsner is lighter than the original, but it is still a contract-brewed beer. Today Penn Pilsner is made at the Jones Brewing Company (the Stoneys guys), located about 45 minutes south of Pittsburgh.
Penn Pilsner was the early flagship brand for Tom Pastorius' young craft brewery, to be located just outside downtown Pittsburgh in the cavernous old 19th century Eberhard and Ober Brewery at 800 Vinial Street. The new Pennsylvania Brewing Company opened its doors in 1989. Like several other mid-Atlantic craft breweries opening at the time, it was a real lager brewery, not an ale brewery that would sometimes attempt mock lager styles.
German traditions are a hallmark of Pennsylvania Brewing. It is a tradition that manifests itself in the prevalence of German ingredients, like the noble hops used in almost every beer that crosses Penn's bar. It is a fundamental tradition that you can see in the German-fabricated copper kettle, or in the Weihenstephan training of the brewery's current brewmaster, Alex Demi.
German atmosphere, German food, and of course, German beer styles -- like the fine weizen beer that I'm reviewing right now. Give it a try!
Until next time, I'll still be sitting in the bar at Pennsylvania Brewing Company, sampling the fine German brews. Care to join me for one?
Ein prosit!
Related Reviews:
About Wheat Beers
http://www.epinions.com/content_1502060676
DeGroen's Weizen
http://www.epinions.com/fddk-review-3C9-E50E164-38ED40DF-prod4
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.