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Brooklyn/Schneider Hopfen Weisse

Both variants of the Brooklyn/Schneider Hopfen Weisse in their beautifully designed bottles
Both variants of the Brooklyn/Schneider Hopfen Weisse in their beautifully designed bottles

We’ve been wanting to try this ever since we first read about it. We’ve often wondered what a hoppier Weizen would be like, and we were also intrigued by the collaboration idea. Brooklyn and Schneider worked together to produce “a blend of Bavarian craftmanship and American ingenuity”. We managed to get our paws on both the Brooklyn variant and the Schneider version, and thought it would be fun to compare the two.

Unfortunately, the Brooklyn version exploded all over our carpet. What we managed to catch looked pretty odd. It was extremely yeasty, and an odd green-yellow colour, possibly from the dry hopping. It tasted… well, pretty foul, actually. Like hop tea. We’re assuming that we got an off bottle. It was all hefe, with maybe a bit of hop dust floating around in it for good measure.

We turned back to better-behaved Schneider variant, hoping it would taste as good as it looked. It didn’t really work either, sadly. The hop flavours clash with the banana-yeast and make it quite difficult to drink — we found it rather soapy and harsh.

Nonetheless, we’d encourage people who haven’t tried it to give it a go, especially if you’ve a high tolerance for bitterness. It’s the kind of beer people will either love or hate.

Update: Boak has decided it ‘tastes like rhubarb — it makes your teeth go funny’. Make of that what you will.

16 replies on “Brooklyn/Schneider Hopfen Weisse”

They’re both on sale at Utobeer, although we got our American bottle at Beer Exposed. Interested to know what you think!

On a side note, made it to the Netherton Hall in Frodsham a couple of nights back only to find it closed for refurbishment. Another time, I guess.

Soapy? Really?

I’ve come back to this a couple of times since I reviewed it and still really like it. You’ll be disappointed if you expect a Bavarian wheat beer, or an American hoppy ale, but I think it works as its own thing.

It does make your teeth go funny, however.

tastes like rhubarb — it makes your teeth go funny’.

Hmmm … calcium oxalate? (Found in rhubarb leaves, and thrown as a deposit by fermenting beer, hence itsalternative name, “beerstone”.)

Greene King brought out a rhubarb-flavoured beer under the Ruddles namea while ago which was, IIRC, vile …

Tandleman — the photo was taken in my homemade lightbox, and punched up a bit in editing software. It helps that the bottles are so beautifully and brightly packaged.

Zythophile – you may be right. The Brooklyn variant in particular looked like it was still fermenting!

Tandleman & Charles (welcome btw) – hope you enjoy them more than we did…

hey

first off they’re both awesomely packaged, really vibrant colours – second the Brooklyn version was £8.5 a bottle which, as much as I want to try it, don’t know if I can risk it incase it does just taste like rhubarb. I did get the Schneider though and thought it was really good, not soapy at all – and I don’t know (as in your recent post) whether it was because I knew that it was a collaboration but it really did taste like a mix of german and american – yeah I really liked it.

I loved Schneider Wiesse when I was in Munich last fall. I was quite shocked to see Brooklyn brewery on the menu. I wish now that I would have tried it. But, I was in Munich. Why waste my time with an American beer.

@Tandleman – a pint! the bottle was awesome, kind of looked like a champagne bottle but yeah at £8.50 a pint I’ll wait till someone else is buying!

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