Beer Review- New Glarus Black Wheat

Summers for me mean a break from teaching, more time for brewing (unless I have a new baby like this summer) and going to Wisconsin to my parents summer home. Trips to Wisconsin means access to some beers not available in Minnesota, most importantly New Glarus. I have professed my love of New Glarus often in this blog, in fact one of my very first blog posts was about New Glarus. This small brewery in Southeastern Wisconsin rates as my number 1 brewery in the country. I don't say that lightly and the reason is that I've never had a bad beer from New Glarus. I have had beers of theirs I don't prefer because I'm not a fan of the style, or it's just a bit too experimental for me (Imperial Weizen comes to mind), but I've never been disappointed by the quality, creativity and sheer craftsmanship of New Glarus. They think outside the box and do it well, or traditional and do it well. That to me is the sign of a high class brewery, everyone can make a super crazy beer or a super hoppy beer. But to do all styles well, I think there are a handful of breweries that can succeed in all they brew. I have a lot of respect for their strong  "Drink Indigineous" credo, as they use a lot of local products in their beer to reflect Wisconsin. And even though it sucks for us Non-Wisconsinites, they only distribute in Wisconsin, which I think allows them to focus on quality instead of quantity.

My dad recently brought me two wheats from New Glarus, Black Wheat and Cracked Wheat. I'll get to the Cracked next post, but I've been loving the Black Wheat. It pours a cloudy black with a foamy, two finger white head. It smells like a porter hefeweizen...aromas of roast, caramel and chocolate, but also clove and banana. Its smooth and light, almost crisp in the finish. The "weiss" part of this beer dominates with the "black" taking a backseat. Sweet, clovey and banana flavors mix surprisingly well with the chocolate, caramel and roasted malt going on.  There is some lingering "porter-like" for lack of a better term, flavors that are present in the finish, but the roastiness is replaced by a nice clovey-sweetness that wants you coming back for more. I think this is a winter or spring seasonal, and I can see why. It gets you ready to drink light refreshing beers in the summer, but still has enough of a darkness/roasty quality to be really satisfying for a non-session beer. Another great New Glarus.

I will get to my Cracked Wheat review, along with a few others, and I'm going to attempt to brew again soon, so I'll keep you abreast with how that goes...maybe wearing a baby on my back? Not sure of the logistics, but the brew kettle is calling.

Salud!

Bearded Brewing