Grätzer - Vintage Brewing Company

WastingFreetime

Wisconsin

3.8/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Grätzer is labelled as a "Polish-style hoppy oak-smoked wheat ale"

Yeah, that's right. A smoked wheat ale. I may just be sheltered, but that's the first time I've ever come across that particular combo. As a lover of strange and unusual beers, I felt compelled to purchase a growler for "further study" back home once I had heard about it. And here are the results:

Grätzer pours out with a very Hefeweizen-like appearance, it has a clouded straw-golden appearance with a soap-bubble foam head that dies back to about a cm thick and stays that way for the duration of the glass. Some light concentric rings of lace are left behind on the inner surface of the glass. It feels so strange to be looking at a light-colored smoked beer! The aroma is a heavy slap of ham smoke mixed with a payload of musty earthen / boiled bitter hopping, the wheat malt's sweetness comes across as an accent tone that is probably responsible for the perception of 'ham'.

Although the oak wood is difficult to find in the nose, it outright dominates the flavor with heavy amounts of tannic / wooden bitterness double-teamed with some straightforward boiled hop pithiness. All of this is supplemented by sharp carbonation and a lighter, crisp body. VERY dry for an ale, only the slightest of wheat twang pops up in the aftertaste.

My only criticism is that the smoke and wood payload could stand to be reduced by about 15% to allow the wheat malt a bit more breathing room. Other than that, I enjoyed this beer.

Serving type: growler

07-13-2012 21:18:42 | More by WastingFreetime