Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss - Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company

GeoffRizzo

Texas

2.58/5  rDev -13.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

A rather dull, bright off-yellow hue, no carbonation, no head, very little action coming from this beverage. Somewhat of a wheaty aroma, faint at that. Just a touch on the creamy side, some wheat flavoring most noticeable in this character-lacking brew. Some sweetness, little to no hop presence, or malt presence for that matter. A grassy palate, nil honey detection. Could quench or refresh on a mild to warm day, but extremely masked flavorings, the honey and the weiss should be removed from the label as they do not exist in this line. A bland offering from a bland line of beers.

Serving type: bottle

02-07-2004 03:38:00 | More by GeoffRizzo

WesWes

New York

2.75/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

The beer pours a very pale gold color with a thin white lace head. The aroma is not that bad. It has a slight weisen scent, but it seems a bit watery. There also seems to be a small light honey aroma as well. The taste is awful. It is quite watery and skunky with a small honey flavor. I don't taste much wheat here, but I guess it must have some. The mouthfeel is above average. It is a low bodied beer with good carbonation. This beer drinks average. It is a terrible weisen. It's one and done for me.

Serving type: bottle

02-04-2004 22:55:48 | More by WesWes

shirfan

New York

2.5/5  rDev -15.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

I was expecting something with flavors of honey and perhaps wheat when I opened this; instead I got something resembling a slightly-less-adjuncty Molson Canadian.

Aroma is of fruit and chewy honey cough drops. Poured like a true fizzy yellow beer, with a wisp of foam and a pale golden body.

Taste: macro lager with perhaps a hint of wheat instead of corn. The website proudly proclaims "John prefers it over ice, with a slice of lemon or lime". I don't know who John is, but assuming he works at the brewery and is trumpeting about two beer sins, I'm a bit leery. There's really nothing else to say about this beer's flavor...light, non-descript, bland american macro lager.

The High Falls Brewery of Wisconsin?

Serving type: bottle

01-24-2004 19:34:36 | More by shirfan

alexgash

Connecticut

2.58/5  rDev -13.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Pale honey-straw body with a small fizzy head. Faint cereal smells, maybe a hop or two. Taste is slightly sweet. Maybe some adjuncts in here... Honey? Well, perhaps, but it's not much different than Grain Belt's sweetness. Finish is short, but quenching, with a crisp wheat tang. I've had better glasses of this on tap, and it's sometimes the best choice among local bars in MN, especially in the summer.

Serving type: bottle

01-20-2004 00:26:01 | More by alexgash

BuckeyeNation

Iowa

1.63/5  rDev -45.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

Extremely pale straw yellow. My experience is still on the limited side, but I don't think I've seen a beer this pale before. The head is bright white, almost the color of cotton, is short-lived and leaves negligible lace.

The nose is honeyish and somewhat sweet. I also smell an underlying unpleasantness that I'll call 'musty' for want of a better term. Looks like the flavor could be in trouble.

Wow, it's even worse than anticipated. LHW actually tastes like a macro. It's sort of stale and sour with an unpleasant bitterness that tweaks my tongue and makes it beg for good beer. Sweetness is noted, but it sure doesn't taste like honey. The mouthfeel is abysmally thin and watery.

It can't be that hard to brew decent beer, can it? Give Honey Weiss a wide berth.

Serving type: bottle

01-14-2004 20:45:59 | More by BuckeyeNation

jwilli7122

Minnesota

3/5  rDev +1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Nothing like what I expected. I didn't expect it to have a real wheat taste (which it didn't) , but I figured that it would be very light and very sweet and maybe actually taste like honey. What I found was an easy drinking bland pilsner.

huh!?

It's really not horrible. there's very little to be offended by. has a slight sweetness in the aftertaste that's alright, but no honey. very little other flavor, medium-light body. This would be a good choice for people who drink a lot of miller light.

Serving type: bottle

01-13-2004 02:02:56 | More by jwilli7122

BigRedN

Nebraska

1.68/5  rDev -43.4%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Appearance: Yellow. About all I can say.
Smell: Expected honey or other scent of a typical wheat beer, but got nothing.
Taste: Slightly sweet, with a hint of honey, like it was added as an afterthought. They brewed this an went "Oh yeah, we got to add the honey." Then just added it to the mix.
Mouthfeel: Slightly flat, with no aftertaste (thankfully).
Drinkability: Not a wheat beer. Won't have this again.

Final Thoughts: Not what I expected. Definitely worse...but don't even get me started on the Berry Weiss.

Serving type: bottle

01-02-2004 22:18:35 | More by BigRedN

feloniousmonk

Minnesota

1.98/5  rDev -33.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2.5

If you reside on either coasts, far from the radius of Leinie's distribution, you probably have no idea how hugely popular this beer is, especially up around here. So obiquitous it is, I was once amused to discover a popular gay nightclub in downtown Mineapolis with a sign on the outside, on the main street, declaring "now serving Leinenkugel's Honey Wiess on tap!" Were there really people stopping before entering it's doors and saying," naw, let's skip this gay bar, no Honey Weiss!"
So let's revisit it, already, for the first time in years...
Color, a bright, shiny, utterly transparent bright yellow color, topped with a big, snow-white, fluffy head. Certainly not the "hefe" sort of "Weisen", for there's no haze at all.
Aroma: practically none, containing that usual Leinie's stink, sorry. Bit of a pilsner feel to it, but nothing like I'd expect from any wheat beer, certainly showing no traces of the "real Wisconsin honey" boasted of on the label. Appears a bit sweetish after all, though, but I still don't like it a bit.
Taste: flat, ...uneventful, lacking in malt and hops and anything pleasurable, yielding no texture and very little flavor. The honey does seem to peep up a tad, but any association you may conjure from a weizen of any kind does not abide here at all.
Now, tasting it bare naked, I know why so many prefer it with a lemon. And, now that I have one again, I understand how the customers at my bar felt when I offered them a real weizen instead, and they didn't like them at all. They don't like real weizens, and they probably don't really like beer at all.
This is so carbonated, yet flat in flavor, it's more like a soda pop, than an actual beer. Drinkability might be considered high, if the flavor and mouthfeel weren't so abysmal.
Rotten, really, but girls think it's tops. And girly guys.
Gets sour as it ends. Yuk.
Skip this, let my the sacrifice of my tastebuds not be in vain.

Serving type: bottle

12-21-2003 10:39:26 | More by feloniousmonk

chilidog

Ohio

3.85/5  rDev +29.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

You wouldn't know this was a wheat beer if the bottle didn't say. I mean, its appearance isn't your typical cloud or haze. Rather this beer is pretty clear, straw in color with a small, non-laceing white head. The aroma is not overly sweet, but about average. The taste is crisp, just a touch of honey blends this brew to a nice balance between the slight hop and the wheat malt. The mouth is left alittle dry, wanting more. Im not big on over-sweet brews, thisone just hit the spot. I'll buy thisone again.

Serving type: bottle

11-15-2003 12:55:53 | More by chilidog

DrunkMcDermott

Illinois

3.28/5  rDev +10.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Can’t find a lot to get enthused about here. Had a bottle in a Wisconsin bar where it was the nearest thing to a micro-brew and the bottle had been in a flourescent lighted cooler. No complaints about the color, smell and taste are not off-putting.
Another bottle from the ”Leinie's Lodge Tackle Box” improved my opinion somewhat. There actually is a slight spicy weizen aspect in the nose that improves the tasting experience. Still can't say where the "honey" part comes in.

Serving type: bottle

09-29-2003 13:25:55 | More by DrunkMcDermott

cbill

Florida

2.3/5  rDev -22.6%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

i don't have much experiance with wheat beers, but this definately is not like the others i've had. pours very pale just like a mass produced lager with no head at all. there was no cloudiness as i've seen in other wheat beers. very slight honey flavor, but not too noticeable. save your money and just buy bud or miller, this really isn't any better and i don't thionk you're realy getting a wheat beer.

Serving type: bottle

07-24-2003 16:09:59 | More by cbill

TheDM

Indiana

2.63/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 2 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

This brew poured a large head of fine white bubbles. It has a transparent light lemon yellow body that left very little lacing. You can smell the honey flavor in its aroma. Its flavor is nice with a little mild honey flavor to it. It is initially smooth and stays that way through the finish. Overall, it was a nice beer to drink, but in this category I would rather have the Michelob Honey Lager.

Serving type: bottle

07-16-2003 21:45:31 | More by TheDM

Tballz420

Minnesota

2.1/5  rDev -29.3%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

This was a pale gold colored beer, looks like most macros you would find. No head to be found. Theres a pretty watery taste to this drink, along with a slight wheat flavor. This isnt something you would be looking for if youre looking for a good tasting brew. Maybe if its hot out and youre looking to put down a lot of drinks, but other than that stay away.

Serving type: bottle

07-02-2003 14:29:32 | More by Tballz420

BobLuvBeer

Illinois

3.15/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Very lite in color. Medium head, slow fade. Slight hint of wheat in the aroma. The “characteristic” rusty Linny taste is present. Just smoothed out slightly by the addition of honey. I would never classify this in the wheat family. But as the Linny family goes, it is one of their better offerings. A good summer, hot day beer. No fresh date.

Serving type: bottle

06-27-2003 12:09:01 | More by BobLuvBeer

Winter

Wisconsin

2.7/5  rDev -9.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a crystal clear pale golden with an airy white head. Very odd aroma of sour malt. What kind of adjuncts did contract brewer, Miller, put into this? The mouthfeel is thin, yet crisp. Feint wheat taste and the honey flavor is almost undetectable. Use of hops adds something at least to this beer to make it a little interesting. Cleansing finish.

Leinie's Honey Weiss gets a bad rap and justifiably so. The name and idea of this beer are more appealing than the final result. It's too tame and certainly lacks many of the characteristics of a good weiss. Almost more like a lager. Despite that, Honey Weiss can be enjoyable on a hot summer day, if properly chilled. Goes down easy and hits the spot.

Serving type: bottle

06-03-2003 10:48:09 | More by Winter

hotstuff

Indiana

3.08/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

This brew poured a white foamy head. There was very little lacing on the sides of my glass. It had a honey aroma to it. There was carbonation rising to the top. There was no bitterness or aftertaste to this brew. This is not a brew that will be at the top of my list of favorite brews.

Serving type: bottle

05-08-2003 17:34:22 | More by hotstuff

BeerBuilder

Minnesota

3.1/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pours to a clear, brilliant straw color with a white head that quickly diminishes. The aroma is semi-sweet, with a touch of honey and a bit of grain. The flavor is light, with a barely noticeable touch of honey. It has a grainy flavor as well. It is light in body, smooth and easy drinking. A good session beer.

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2003 08:17:29 | More by BeerBuilder

cretemixer

Indiana

2.38/5  rDev -19.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Pours a crystal clear light golden color with an impressive pure-white head . The head retention is good and it finally settles to a fairly thick, even layer on the beer's surface.

Slightly skunky barley based aroma is most prominent. There is a sweet earthy aroma too.

Rather thin tasting, slightly metalic. A bit of hop bitterness, but very mild. I don't really taste the honey or any wheat beer characteristics either.

Carbonation and body are average as is the drinkablility. There are much better beers out there though in this price range.

Serving type: bottle

02-24-2003 14:15:24 | More by cretemixer

AudioGilz

Pennsylvania

2.48/5  rDev -16.5%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Slightly cloudy light yellow in color with virtually no head to speak of. This is unexciting to drink. I taste just a faint honey and it's not natural. The mouthfeel is very thin and watery. This beer is refreshing though. It definitely would be a good tight budget summer session beer. But I'd rather cough up a couple more bucks for something better, like a weiss beer that tastes like a weiss beer.

Serving type: bottle

02-02-2003 18:54:46 | More by AudioGilz

Rifrafboy

Minnesota

3.2/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

I am not a fan of Leinenkugel's. maybe it's the healthy Minnesota/Wisconsin rivalry. Poured straw yellow, with almost no head. Taste is very sweet. The honey is there, but also a faint fruitiness. Finishes sweet and syrupy. Overall, I had heard bad things about this beer. I did not hate it, in fact it was a nice change of pace. Wouldn't recommend it, but wouldn't turn down a bottle either.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2003 16:48:02 | More by Rifrafboy

budgood1

Minnesota

2.4/5  rDev -19.2%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

i'll continue the whipping of this beer............bright yellow color, thin head. very muted aroma of honey and lemon. tastes like nothing. my taste buds are straining to pick up the wheat and honey characteristics..........oh well, it's pretty slammable which gets it a slightly higher drinkability score. a good summer brew for the masses. a bad anytime brew for the advocates.

Serving type: bottle

11-09-2002 18:58:17 | More by budgood1

BeerBob

Nebraska

2.63/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Leinenkugel’s “Honey Weiss Bier” pours a light amber out of a 12oz brown twist off cap bottle. Head forms at about two fingers then fades to a light cap with well defined ring.

Nose is unremarkable with a slight wheat malt and a slight honey presence. Palate is more wheat malt than honey which is taking a back seat here. Tart and a bit sour, the wheat malt is the main presence on the palate, with a small amount of hops. The carbonation levels are on par, but that is about it.

This brew lacks balance, honey and a sense of direction, which is not indicative of Leinenkugel.

Serving type: bottle

09-01-2002 17:09:14 | More by BeerBob

brakspear

Wisconsin

3.2/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Hmmm...I guess this is meant to be an adverturesome beer for the summertime masses, I mean it is a "honey weiss bier" according to the label so that makes it darn near foreign!

Actually, this beer may have wheat and honey but their distinctive traits have been strategically removed during the brewing process, what is left is a gold beer with a light head, a mild unoffending taste and aroma with a hint of lemon and sweetness. The beer goes down smooth without offending anyone. I guess this is a "bier" meant to be drunk when the temperature hits 85 and your cooler is empty of everything else.

Serving type: bottle

08-07-2002 17:12:46 | More by brakspear

Dogbrick

Ohio

2.88/5  rDev -3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

This doesn't hold a candle to Leine's Creamy Dark. Passable wheat beer but there just isn't much under the hood. Faint honey aroma. Straw colored with thin head. Very light flavor with little character.

Serving type: bottle

08-01-2002 12:22:35 | More by Dogbrick

ADR

Pennsylvania

2.38/5  rDev -19.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Surprisingly clear darker yellow color. Head is sparse after 20 seconds. A little estery aroma. Certainly not an overbearing sense of honey (like a Michelob Honey Lager), but then there's not an overbearing sense of any flavor. Vague maple sweetness, a little hazelnut in the aftertaste but little to no spice or any other Wheat characters. This beer is pretty dang bad -- like many "Leinies" products, the flavors just aren't there.

Serving type: bottle

07-03-2002 07:29:03 | More by ADR