Sunday Night Suds - Samuel Adams Hoppy Wheat Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Samuel Adams Hoppy Wheat Ale.

The Samuel Adams Hoppy Wheat Ale is classified as an American Pale Wheat Ale. As defined by the gurus at Beer Advocate, this style is:

An Americanized version of a Hefe Weizen, these beers range within the pale to golden range in color. Reminiscent of a Hefe Weizen in appearance, unless filtered. Long-lasting head with a light to medium body, higher carbonation is proper. German Weizen flavors and aromas of banana esters and clove-like phenols will not be found. Most use a substantial percentage of wheat malt. Hop character will be low to high but most are moderate in bitterness. There may be some fruitiness from ale fermentation though most examples use of a fairly neutral ale yeast, resulting in a clean fermentation with little to no diacetyl.

Often served with a lemon wedge (popularized by Americans), to either cut the wheat or yeast edge, which many either find to be a flavorful snap ... or an insult and something that damages the beer's taste and head retention.

The beer poured a rich golden yellow with decent carbonation and some lacing. The first sip was pine and that continued and developed citrus aftertaste which stayed with me well after the swallow. I did not detect anything that reminded me of phenol and the beer was not very cloudy either. At 4.8% abv the beer is not high on the alcohol scale and the alcohol flavor is not strong, but it would go well with pizza and other lighter side entrees.

The Hoppy Wheat Ale is under the Kosher Supervision of the Star-K and has a Star-K certification mark on the side of the can. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about this brew, please follow this link - beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/303571.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

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