HAZY AFFAIR ~ MUDDY YORK BREWING

Hazy Affair is an American style Wheat beer. There has been a late hop addition along with dry hopping in the brewing process (Sorachi Ace and Galaxy were used). Compared to their “German cousins’ style wise the yeast qualities are dialled down. Sampled on draught the beer poured a cloudy straw yellow with a moderate foamy white head. Aroma has lots of lemon and some wheat, with citrus hops at the end. Flavour follows nose – lots of citrusy goodness with a good kick of grapefruit hops. Lots of flavour in this one! The carbonation was moderate-soft and the mouthfeel was medium. Great flavour – wheat with an edge! A nice transitional beer as summer finishes and cooler breezes prevail.

4.5% from Toronto, Ontario 21 IBU

RADICLE WHEAT (IDES OF JULY) ~ HENDERSON’S BREWING

Radicle Wheat was Henderson’s limited edition brew for July 2016. It was brewed for Toronto’s 55th Annual Toronto Art Exhibition. The beer uses prairie wheat and Belgian yeast in its recipe. Sampled on draught the beer poured a cloudy golden straw colour. The aroma contained the typical hefe aromas of orange peel, banana and coriander. This was a very nice example of the style and with lots of fruits esters ands spicy Belgian yeast. There was lots of fruit and a subtle sweetness before a crisp tart finish. Very pleasant on a hot day.

5.2% From Toronto 20 IBU

LAST DAYS OF SUMMER ~ ROYAL CITY BREWING

This beer is a little bit of a mystery for me. My local has it labelled “Last day of Summer,” but I suspect it also goes under the moniker of “Carden Street Raspberry Wheat.” – perhaps it is a regional thing. The beer is supposed to be a raspberry wheat beer, which is my second mystery – I get no raspberries at all in this brew.
Sampled on draught, the beer poured orangey- golden in colour with a generous white head with good retention. There was a lovely refreshing crispness in this sessionable brew. The mouthfeel was medium as was the carbonation and the finish had a pleasant hop bitterness. I would not classify this as a wit beer as I go no typical (banana, etc.) flavours of the style, it almost tasted more lagerish. A pleasant drinking beer with a whole lot of mystery, and no raspberries.
5.2% from Guelph, Ontario
Photo courtesy of Royal City Brewing

CASSIS WIT ~ MILL STREET 

The Cassis wit is a new seasonal brew from Mill Street. Sampled on draught at the brewery, the beer poured a hazy pinkish-beige with a persistent frothy off white pinkish head, which left nice lacing. The nose was mostly cracker, wheat, and estery yeast with a slightly buried berry and black currant. The taste was much the same; bready malts are dominant with semi-sweet black currant and berry flavour in the middle. There were also notes of Belgian yeast spice, banana (typical of a hefe) and a strange sulfuriness. The beer ends with a hint of grassy floral hops and an abrupt finish. The beer had lively active carbonation and a light body. I found there fruit to be a little understated and would have preferred a little more tartness, that being said, this is quite a pleasant summer patio beer.

4.8% from Toronto 8.5 IBU

HOEGAARDEN ~ BROUWERIJ VAN HOEGAARDEN

MACRO BELGIAN ~ I remember a number of years ago when I had my first Hoegaarden; it was poured in a heavy glass that looked at large as a fish bowl.  The glass was rinsed with its very own beer bidet before pouring.  It was my introduction to wit beer. 

Sampled from a bottle the beer poured a cloudy light yellow (fermented twice but not filtered).  Aroma has lots of sweetness and wheat, with a smidgen of citrus..  Taste has tons of wheat, with a trace of citrus and spice.   It is an easy drinking summer beer, not bad, but not stupendous either.  I’ve heard this called a lawnmower beer, something to quench your thirst on a hot day.

Hoegaarden (the location near Flanders) had been the site of a brewery from the mid 1400’s.  The tradition had died out in the 1950’s with most of the breweries shuttering their windows.  In the late 1950’s Pierre Celis (who had been a milkman) decided to purchase the brewery and make ago of it.  His new brewery was called Celis; they used the traditional ingredients of wheat, hops, yeast, coriander and dried orange peel in their brew.  By the 1980’s he could not keep up with demand and expanded.  After a fire in 1985, several brewers offered their help, Interbrew (now InBev) the largest brewer lent him the money to purchase other buildings to keep up with production.  He felt that they corporate brewery pressured him to adjust the recipe in order to ‘mass market’ the beer.  Celis then sold InBev the brewery and moved to Texas, US, where he set up Celis Brewery, and continued to make the original wit beer.  Miller, who later sold the equipment and name to Michigan Brewing Co, which went bankrupt and also sold the name, later acquired that brewery.  Since the InBev takeover, the original brewery in Hoegaarden was threatened with closure, sparking many protests among the locals.  InBev has kept the brewery in Hoegaarden and invested to upgrade facilities.  Multinational Anhauser Busch now owns the beer company.

4.9% from Hoegaarden, Belgium

WHEAT ~ SIDELAUNCH

Sidelaunch Brewing in the rebranded and renamed Denison’s beer. This beer was formerly Denison’s Weissbeer, now simply known as ‘Wheat.’ Sampled on draught in a weizen glass, this beer poured a bright cloudy yellow, with a white lasting head. The beer is billed as an authentic unfiltered Bavarian style Wheat beer and has a nose that reflects this. The smell is vibrant and fresh and contains lots of banana, ripe wheat, citrus, coriander and clove. The taste was quite fruity and fresh, as well as the tastes the nose would suggest, fresh fruit, lemon citrus, yeast and wheaty malts all have a part to play. I think this may be one of the better hefes I have had and a good example of the style. It is full of flavour and the extra fruitiness makes it very refreshing. The beer had a creamy mouthfeel and was moderately carbonated. A very enjoyable quaff and paired perfectly with fish tacos.
5.3 % from Collingwood, Ontario

APRICOT WHEAT ~ ST. AMBROISE

This apricot wheat is lovely!  Sampled from a tin, the beer poured deep golden amber, with moderate carbonation and white head that dissipated quickly.   Apricot was the show stealer on the nose.  The smell was that of sweet real apricots, with touches of wheat and malts; little hoppiness was detected.  I thought this beer was beautifully balanced.  This ale was not as sweet as it smelled, A malty breadiness started the beer, followed by a slightly bitter hops (Wilmette and Golding) and a long apricot finish.  This would be a beautiful summer beer!

5% from Montreal, Quebec                         15  IBU