This is the final entry in my late-year weissbier triptych. In my previous post I pondered the customary slice of lemon that is duly affixed by bartenders across America to weissbier glasses. For better or for worse, I skip the zitrone. It's just not my thing although I can see the appeal of it. Having said this, I am not ideologically opposed to blending a weissbier with some fruit or using your bier to steep tea or adding a floral dimension to brew.
This past summer Point introduced Peach Hefeweizen via their Whole Hog series which features various brews made in limited quantities aimed at the craft beer drinker. The pumpkin ale enjoys a glowing reputation from what I can tell. I miss the imperial pilsner which seems to have been brewed once in 2009 and then disappeared.
Peach Hefeweizen pours a light gold hue and was hazy as expected. The beer was crowned with 1"+ of nice ecru head. This was a nice effervescent brew with lots of bubbles going upwards. And I mean lots. It was bubbly like a fine pilsner. Very pretty.
On appearance, Peach Hefeweizen gets high marks. The problem started when I smelled the bier. At first I caught peach. But as my brain tried to discern some evidence of this being a weissbier such as a bit of banana or clove, it realized that it had also gotten a big dose of butter. Diacetyl! D'oh! To the best of my knowledge, and anyone reading this from G. Schneider & Sohn please correct me if I'm wrong, but there should be no diacetyl in a weissbier. I could probably live with a little but this smelled like a lethal dose.
The beer's taste matched its aroma with the peach coming first followed by the dreaded butter. I could also taste the carbonation. What I failed to taste, however, was any indication that I was drinking a weissbier. I am loathe to make any proclamations about a beer so severely compromised by diacetyl but the prominence of the peach left me with the impression that, had the diacetyl not been present, I wouldn’t have tasted much in the way of phenols anyway. The peach flavor was strong instead of being at a lower dosage where it would complement any banana or clove flavors.
My drinking experience, such as it was, finished with the buttery flavor dying out leaving the peach to linger for a short time until a nice dryness from carbonation and some grassy hops entered the scene. Schaumhaftvermoegen was oddly light. So light, in fact, that there was but a smattering of small spots.
Did anyone else out there run into diacetyl in this bier? I'd hate to think it was just me and my poor beer storing habits. Aside from the off flavor, the peach wasn't bad. The label says both "Beer with Natural Flavor Added" as well as that peaches were used. Does this mean that only peaches were used? The peach flavor of the beer didn't exactly taste like fresh fruit but nor did it taste fake.
Junk food pairing: If this bier had no diacetyl, I'd pair it with either some Kartoffelchips or pretzels with mustard and/or horseradish. You'll need something to cut through all that peach.
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