The Full Bar - all my pages

Monday, April 30, 2007

Canned Wheat

As a lot of you know, Sly Fox released their Royal Weisse in cans in April. As many of you probably don't know, they thereby became the second east coast micro to release a canned hefeweizen. Butternuts Beer & Ale, of Garrattsville, NY, has had a hefe called Heinieweisse for a while now. The brewery contacted me a few weeks ago, and sent me some samples. Tonight I got to taste the two of them, the only two canned American hefes I know of, with some delicious veal sausages I got at Rieker's Prime Meats in Northeast Philly.

I'll cut to the chase: the Heinieweisse did not come off well in the head-to-head comparison. The depth of flavor was not there, the classic hefe character was not there, and there was an unpleasant mineral component to the beer. The Royal Weisse was very impressive, full-flavored, würzig, and refreshing. I'm going to try some Heinieweisse solo, maybe tomorrow.

14 comments:

Steven said...

Interesting that Butternuts call their Hefe a German Hefe and a Farmhouse ale all in the same lable. A bit schizo?

Lew Bryson said...

Well, from what I understand, Butternuts is a farm, and of course German hefe is ale-fermented, so...schizo? No, more like belt-and-suspenders.

Steven said...

Many would argue (I get my support from Jackson) that while ale *is* top-fermented, but not all top-fermented beers are ales, but I see your point.

By the Butternuts Farm reasoning, would all beer brewed in Wisconsin be Farmhouse beers? ;-)

Lew Bryson said...

This argument sounds wickedly geeky.

Your urban prejudice is showing!

Stan Hieronymus said...

New Glarus calls Spotted Cow an farmhouse ale.

Stan Hieronymus said...

That would be a farmhouse ale.

Or an an ale, farmhouse.

Lew Bryson said...

Stan...

Don't you have work you could be doing?

Loren said...

A wise man once quipped: "Is it a true Farmhouse brewery? Or another one located in yet another industrial park?".

I don't mind REAL Farmhouse beers (and breweries)...but cashing in on the chicness of the name after the success of Phil's book seems to be rampant, with this moniker.

Cheers!

GenX at 40 said...

I have to say I like the Butternuts one but it is a lighter take on the style but not as light as for example, the Sam Adams White Ale is of what ever it is supposed to be. Of Butternut's three it is my favorite and at 5.99 a six it is priced right.

Of course, I have never had a Sly Fox version of nuttin' due to the crazy laws of and governing distribution - which is probably your winning argument in whatever disagreements we may have ever had.

Alan
A Good Beer Blog

Lew Bryson said...

Loren,

Dunno much (though I do know who you're really taking a shot at here, you naughty boy), but I damn sure know that there's no industrial park anywhere near Garrattsville!

Lew Bryson said...

Alan,
That's why I want to try Heinnieweisse solo. Royal Weisse is a damned good weissbier, and side-by-siding them is tough on the Butternuts contender. We'll see how it does on its own.

Steven said...

"This argument sounds wickedly geeky.

"Your urban prejudice is showing!"


I was reading Jackson and being geeky about beer looong before there was an internet! ;-)

Wisconsin. Illinois' biggest state park. ;-)

(and home of Baumgartners's)

Steven said...

"New Glarus calls Spotted Cow a farmhouse ale."

Exactly my point! :-D

Anonymous said...

Haven't tried anything from Butternuts, but, for me, a lot of hefes suffer if compared to Royal Weise.