Sunspot - Greenbush Brewing Company

cadizkyguy

Kentucky

5/5  rDev +23.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

On an August visit to Greenbush, I sampled the Anger and Sunspot and opted to purchase a growler of Anger, which I really enjoyed.

During a Labor Day beer run, I picked up a growler of Sunspot and decided to pair it with Kielbasa, sauerkraut, a diced green apple, brown sugar along with a half cup of Sunspot for juice and cooked it in a pot on the stove.

While the concoction is simmering on the stove, I decide to do my beer review of Sunspot, fittingly in my Weihenstephan weizen beer glass.

This is one majestic brew, both in appearance and taste. This blows away every Hefeweizen I've ever had and that's saying a lot since I consider Weihenstephan the king of its class.

Appearance -- cloudy, yeasty, golden, with a frothy white head that dissipates and leaves considerable lacing on the glass.

Smell -- Banana, banana and more banana, with clove. The freshness of this beer is unreal, having been tapped only six days earlier. A big thanks to the Greenbush barmaid who properly filled my growler and sealed it at the neck to ensure freshness.

Taste -- A classic Hefeweizen taste. Yeasty, with clove and lots of banana overtones.

Mouthfeel -- Greenbush has been in business since only June 2011 - a mere three months - and is the new shining star on the craft scene. This beer is incredible, just like Anger, a black ipa with tons of character and flavor.

Overall -- The only knock on Greenbush would be its clear glass growlers. I brought an empty brown growler from Figure 8 to have filled since the last time at Greenbush the growlers there were all sold out. There's something about a clear glass growler that doesn't set well with me. But that is hardly a negative.

Serving type: growler

09-10-2011 22:46:58 | More by cadizkyguy

alleykatking

Indiana

4.65/5  rDev +14.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Had on tap at Greenbush!

A- Pours a hazy golden yellow orange color with hints of orange toward the middle. Half finger white head shows light retention. Light collar of lace on the side of the glass.

S- Banana and clove come out right off the bat in the nose. Light wheat undertones in the middle of the aroma profile bring a nice balance to the overall smell. Citrus undertones in the ending with a bright orange profile hinting in the very end before a light alcohol comes over it.

T- Upfront there is a nice mix of orange zest and wheat balance. This leads to a clean banana middle with hints of light clove in the backing. Ending shows off more of that banana flavor with once again a clean clove taste as a wheat underbody shows a nice balance to the beer. The alcohol is subdue and bubblegum really hints in the very end of this one.

M- Medium mouthfeel. Carbonation is good for the style. Orange zest, banana, light clove, and wheat are left on the palate. Aftertaste is alcohol with hints of bubblegum, wheat, and banana and clove. Flavors were very well balanced for the style. No off flavors were present when I was drinking this. Medium alcohol drying on the palate with each sip.

O- I thought this beer was fantastic. I've had a lot of hefeweizens and this one is right up there with lets say Live Oak's. A clean tasting and very flavorful beer without the alcohol mess that some of the higher ABV hefe's tend to have. I can see this beer becoming something that people will seek out in the future.

Serving type: on-tap

07-08-2011 19:48:27 | More by alleykatking

minterro

Michigan

4.6/5  rDev +13.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

From notes 7/18/11 at Kalamazoo Beer Exchange

A: Murky/cloudy orange brown, with bits of yellow seeping through. Even though it sounds nasty, it looks a bit like muddy water… in a good way haha. White head that pours about a quarter of a finger, and stay around a pretty decent amount and leaving a pretty good amount of lacing on the glass.

S: WOW! This beer truly blew me away in the smell category. Very pungent smells of spice, bananas, and cloves. With hints of citrus (oranges I believe) aroma. This beer smells like ever hefeweizen wants/wish to smell like.

T: The spice and orange flavors of the beer is the thing I taste the most upfront but this blends well with a banana and cloves middle taste. A nice wheat feel in the background all the way through. A nice and sweet summery taste. This beer is a great representative of a well-balanced beer.

M: medium to low carbonation with a medium body. Smooth and a tad bit on the dry side as far as finishes go, but not too much where this couldn’t be enjoyed on a nice, hot summer afternoon.

O: This beer is hands down the best hefeweizen I’ve ever had! You can’t get much better then this beer as far as hefeweizen’s go. Unfortunately there is almost nowhere to find this beer. This really needs to hit shelves in bottle form soon, cause I need to give it another analysis in a quite, distraction free environment… that’s how good this beer is.

Serving type: on-tap

07-21-2011 01:25:16 | More by minterro

warnerry

Michigan

4.5/5  rDev +10.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A - Pours a hazy golden brown with a finger of head and some nice lacing.

S - very nice aromas of banana, cloves, some citrus and wheat.

T -- Similar to smell, nice citrus and banana, great wheat presence and apparent but not overwhelming spices. One of the best hefeweizens I've had.

M -- Medium mouthfeel with a nice creaminess.

O -- My first from Greenbush, and it is very impressive. Would definitely have this again.

Serving type: on-tap

11-04-2011 17:54:22 | More by warnerry

liamt07

Ontario (Canada)

4.15/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

On draught at the brewery.

Hazy golden yellow, light white head and good retention. Nose has a good amount of banana, citrus with a solid clove/spice component. Quite prominent spicing. Lots of wheat and banana on the palate, and the spicing remains quite big. Body dries out real quick, urges for another sip. Medium full feel and moderate sweetness. A touch of bitterness. A solid hefeweizen, quite refreshing and satisfying.

Serving type: on-tap

05-29-2012 22:43:23 | More by liamt07

brentk56

North Carolina

4/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance: Arrives with an amber color (slightly darker than expected) and a very nice head that leaves quite a few strands of lace

Smell: Wheat bread, bananas, cloves and a surprising element of grassy hops

Taste: Starts out like a standard hefe, with wheat bread, bananas and clove but by mid-palate, the grassy hops arrive to take the beer in a different direction; nicely blended in the finish, with hefe and Noble hop characteristics blended together

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation

Overall: A rather non-traditional hefe, bringing a Noble hop flavor that restrains the banana flavor, to a meaningful extent; definitely enjoyable, once I figured out what the brewer was doing

Serving type: on-tap

10-24-2012 03:12:22 | More by brentk56

tectactoe

Michigan

3.91/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

On tap at Ashley's in Westland for the Shorts vs. Greenbush Throwndown. Sunspot pours like murky apple juice; kind of muddled and rusty looking, topped off with a soapy, bone-white layer of foam. The head recedes quickly for a hefeweizen and settles at a skin no more than a millimeter in height atop the rustic looking brew.

As with the best beers of this style, the yeast is clearly the star of the aroma profile. Big time hefeweizen yeast notes; clove, bubblegum, and some delicate spices. Very estery, with heaps of ripe banana, orange zest, and faint lemon rind. Hops are only slightly noticeable, but provide a mild grassy note that integrates pretty well. Softer handfuls of wheat blanket the edges and pull everything together. With warming, some mild sugar sweetness escalates as well. Nothing mind-blowing, but still a very solid hefe-style aroma.

Sunspot is pretty smooth on the palate, although it seems a little more watery than I'd like. Typically hefeweizens are lighter, while maintaining a "full-feeling" body, but it's only a minor gripe. Musky hops hit first which kind of surprises me after smelling it. Bitterness is quite low, but the mild-leafiness from the hops is a fairly prominent part of the flavor profile and I can't decide if I'd like it better without it or not.

Some expected hefe-style flavors are abound - banana, heavy wheat, clove, coriander, spice, and some residual, ester-laden sugars - but there's also one different component that seems to stand out to me. I'm sensing a light, funky-wood flavor... Not quite like the funk you'd get from Brett yeast or even wine-barrel aging, but just a mildly funky, damp wood, borderline musky cellar kind of funk. Light in comparison to the rest of the flavors, but heavy enough to be noticeable. It's different... I like it. I think. The finish contains mild sweetness and the lasting taste of some nice German yeast.

I'm a sucker for a good hefeweizen, and while this one doesn't quite stand up to the "greats" out there (Weihenstephaner, Franziskaner, Dancing Man), it can still stand on its own two feet pretty well. Definitely one of the better offerings from Greenbush that I've had. I could picture rocking a few of these on a hot, summer day.

Serving type: on-tap

05-17-2013 16:41:12 | More by tectactoe

StoutHunter

Michigan

3.76/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

I picked up a bottle of Greenbush's Sunspot last week for $1.79 at The Lager Mill. This is the newest Greenbush beer to see distribution and since I like this brewery I thought I should give it a try, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date, but it just showed up so it should be fairly fresh. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a Weizen glass.

A- The label looks nice it's got a slight dash of darkness that some Greenbush labels seem to have. It poured a hazy golden orange color that took on some darker orange hues when held to the light with three fingers worth of fluffy white head that died down to a thin ring that left some nice lacing behind. This was a good looking beer that looked pretty true to style, I liked it.

S- The aroma starts off with a high amount of medium sweetness followed by some wheat, ripe bananas and spices with cloves seeming to stick out the most. Towards the end I get an earthy aroma that might be from some hops. This beer had a nice aroma that was pretty true to style.

T- The taste seems to be fairly similar to the aroma but lighter and it starts off with lots of wheat and grainy flavors with a some lighter bready flavors. Next comes a lighter amount of banana and a lighter spicy aroma with cloves still sticking out the most. On the finish it's a little earthy with a low amount of bitterness with bananas and cloves carrying on into the aftertaste with a little bit of wheat. This was a nice tasting beer that was fairly true to style.

M- Smooth, crisp, slightly refreshing, medium bodied with a higher amount of medium carbonation that was slightly prickly. The mouthfeel was nice and it worked well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a nice beer and a nice example of the style, I have had better Heffeweizens but most of them have been from Germany so this was pretty good for a domestic example of the style. This beer had good drinkability, it was smooth, a little refreshing and the flavors did a decent job at holding my attention, I could drink a couple of these on a warm summer day. What I liked the most about this beer was the appearance and the balance, it didn't go overboard on the ripe bananas. There wasn't anything that I really disliked about this beer, it was good for what it was. I would buy this beer again when looking for a nice Hefeweizen and I would recommend it to anyone who likes the style. All in all I thought this was solid for the style and I liked it, it's not my favorite of the style or my favorite Greenbush beer, but it's another solid beer from Greenbush, keep it up guys.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2013 04:25:58 | More by StoutHunter

andrewjraab

Michigan

3.4/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A - nice burnt orange color with a big froth of foamy white head. Good Clarity with bubbles racing. Decent webbing and stick at first that quickly disappeared.

S - Wheat, grains, banana bread, dough.

T - Follows the nose closely with a bread dough, bananas, clove. Easy drinking, but the flavor profile doesn't meld perfectly.

O - This is a decent offering for the style, but doesn't knock my socks off. I could drink it on a lazy summer day.

Serving type: bottle

05-14-2013 20:46:27 | More by andrewjraab

TMoney2591

Illinois

3.14/5  rDev -22.7%
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

Served in a Lagunitas mason jar.

There's black malt in this hefeweizen? Okay. It pours a clear bronze topped by a finger of cream foam. Hm, looks like there is some more darkness than usual. Fair enough. Looks good. The nose comprises wheat, light candi sugar, light honey, light corn, and a touch of toffee. This smells like no hefe I've ever had, nor any I'd likely wanna have. The taste holds notes of orange zest, black pepper, light clove, sweet biscuit, and a touch of some spice in the background that I just can't for the life of me pin down. The body is a light medium, with a moderate carbonation and a drying finish. Overall, a decent hefe, I suppose, but one that's strangely too malty and a touch too spicy for its own good.

Serving type: bottle

05-22-2013 06:44:08 | More by TMoney2591

Khazadum

Illinois

2.83/5  rDev -30.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Great lacing, not sticky enough for my glass. Amber body, good carbonation, great lingering time on head generation. Scums down to a pond skin and creamy collar.

Strong diacetyl presence that is hidden by the chill. As it warms it comes out to overwhelm the clove and bubblegum nature. Very faint bubblegum... all about the clove here.

Spicy clove, bits of generic spice, apple phenols, but throughout the entire play is diacetyl and biscuit. A wheaty malt backbone helps as well. Is that bubblegum? Barely. Diacetyl becomes the name of the game and boy does it linger into the finish as an awful chemical laden bread.

Full crisp body, very bright carbonation, very sticky and prevalent flavors. If only they weren't so.... unbalanced?

Serving type: bottle

05-08-2012 03:26:29 | More by Khazadum