Saranac Hefeweizen - Matt Brewing Company

cretemixer

Indiana

3.28/5  rDev -5.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Pours gold in color with a lot less cloudiness than I was expecting. Pure white, somewhat rocky head that settles to a solid layer.
Very authentic aroma. Lots of banana & clove here. Yeasty & spicy.
The flavors are muted compared to the nose. All the players are there, but it's like they're sitting on the bench. Very faint hop notes.
Light body with soft, but vibrant carbonation. Overall, pretty average.

Serving type: bottle

05-03-2004 13:16:13 | More by cretemixer

bonbini26

New Jersey

3.28/5  rDev -5.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Golden Color with a nice head, clearer than most Hefenweizens ive had. Sweet amora with hints of citrus. Light and refreshing orange spicy taste, almost the same as Saranac's Belgium White Ale, in the summer 12 pack. Overall easy to drink and the taste stays with you on your tongue

Serving type: bottle

05-24-2006 03:55:41 | More by bonbini26

riored4v

Colorado

3.28/5  rDev -5.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured in to a hefe style glass. Swirling bottle lead to a hazy, slightly dark golden body. 1 finger, white head.

Aroma had some mild banana and clove aroma. Fruity and yeasty with a mild sweetness. Slightly metallic.

Taste was slightly metallic upfront that turned to a lightly malty and sweet flavor. Some mellow notes of banana and clove. Mild spicey hop bitterness in the finish. Some fruity flavors. Slight grainy/bready flavor.

Mouthfeel was medium body with medium carb. Crisp finish.

Overall it's a decent, easy drinking hefe. Hoped for a tad more body and stronger traditional hefe flavors, but still tasted good and approriate to style.

Serving type: bottle

12-03-2011 01:47:29 | More by riored4v

barknee

New York

3.3/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pours a slightly hazy medium gold, with a fluffy head that diminishes to a slick. Ample nose of banana, yeast and to a far lesser degree clove. This is by far the most aromatically active brew produced by Saranac that I have sampled. Taste is slightly astringent with a light malt character. Finishes with a slightly ferric-metallic aftertaste. This brew is generally light and refreshing; a tame and immature version of the style, but nevertheless one of the better products from this house. Relatively true to the style, but not worth knocking yourself out to procure.

Serving type: bottle

04-28-2006 02:43:48 | More by barknee

ism

New Jersey

3.3/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Barely qualifying as cloudy after trying my damnedest to toss the bottom yeast into the Hefe glass. I can easily read the words I'm writing right now through it. It's a darker gold with a weak 2-finger head that disappears nearly immediately. Nose is interestingly earthy due to Tettnang, which mixes well with the mellow banana. Light body with active carbonation, solid banana flavors balanced with refreshing lemon hop, and just a bit of clove that comes out more in the finish, a little dryness, with a touch of nuts, earthiness, and yeast lingering.

Weak flavor profile for a Hefe but an interesting take on the style. Not enough cloves being its weakest point but also the balance between the other flavors ultimately combining into something simply boring. Light and refreshing enough for a summer's day but it wouldn't stand on its own.

Serving type: bottle

07-13-2006 05:17:34 | More by ism

crzyd12

Maryland

3.3/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Firm head with light lacing. Light golden color with streams of tiny little bubbles. Cloudy so you can't see through it but I would like to see more sediment. Hints of banana and creme. A good example of a wheat beer but it seems like it was filtered ever so slightly, if that is possible. Light mouthfeel with no crisp after taste or bite. Refreshing on an Indian summer night in MD, worth a second helping.

Serving type: bottle

10-07-2007 23:38:17 | More by crzyd12

thecheapies

Pennsylvania

3.3/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Saranac Hefeweizen poured into a weizen glass; yeast swirled in.

Mildly hazy dark yellow. The head once boasted about two inches, but has now pancaked on top. 3.5

Lemon zest and crushed Captain's Wafers in the aroma. A little salty. Very subdued backdoor banana in the nose. Almost gose-like. Not your stereotypical Bavarian-style hefe aroma. 3.5

Again with the saltiness. The clove shows up in the taste, almost completely replacing the banana. Forefront lemon and herbal grassy notes that taste like products of the yeast rather than the hops. Slight salty caramel and maraschino cherry. A little witbier spice in the finish. Attenuated flavor, crossed up with some seawater. Perhaps, a little more interesting than average. 3.5

Very thin for the style. The carbonation level seems higher than it actually is. Not a great feel. 2.5

I'm not sure if Matt Brewing was intending on altering the style this much, but this ale misses the mark. It's enjoyable enough as a wheat beer or just as a summer refreshment. The salty character is interesting and unique. Not a good hefe. I'll just call it average. 3.0

Serving type: bottle

05-14-2012 23:52:57 | More by thecheapies

KYGunner

Kentucky

3.3/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Way too carbonated for a Hefe, the color was not yellow nor the appearance unfiltered. Tons of carbonation lines the edge of the glass and gives this beer a really cheap look.

The scent is softly clove but more banana. Weak but not absent the scent is nice and fruity when you find it.

The taste is very appropriate with clove and fruity banana but the banana is at the front and quite nice. Wishes for a simply stronger fruitiness this Hefe lives up to the expectation of the style but is simply too weak and or cheap.

Serving type: bottle

03-31-2013 21:09:14 | More by KYGunner

packetknife

Idaho

3.33/5  rDev -4%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Hazy light yellow, heavily carbonated with a broken white head that faded quickly. Smelled of dry hay, reminds me of my old bosses feed shack. The taste runs the gamut, long grass, hay, some spice on the finish, a lingering wheat bread taste that lingers on the nose too (after drinking). Felt thin for its appearance, regulary drinkability.

Serving type: bottle

02-08-2004 09:18:59 | More by packetknife

Gavage

New Jersey

3.33/5  rDev -4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Hazy golden yellow in color with a short 1/2" head. Some lacing spots develop through the drink. The aroma is of wheat, banana, and spice. The flavor is rudely dominated by strong wheat, malt, and banana tones. In the background some clove, citrus, and a bit of bitterness were detectable.

Nice carbonation levels. The mouthfeel is crisp and dry. The finish is dry with the strong wheat tones riding the tongue briefly. This beer seems unbalanced and not as refreshing as I would like, causing drinkability to be very average in my book.

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2005 12:17:03 | More by Gavage

dreadnatty08

District of Columbia

3.33/5  rDev -4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Unfiltered? Seriously? Pours a just barely hazy orange color with slight rubiness. A bit of head is formed, but is gone very quickly. Aromas are pretty much to the type: quite a lot of esters, mostly banana, some bubblegum, very little clove. Nice, but a little too ordinary. On the palate, the wheat is quite aggressive, with some nice floral hoppiness. Finishes very cleanly, not as crisp as I'd like, a little flabby. Overall, I think it has some good points towards style (aroma, mouthfeel), but it misses many of them: flavor, appearance etc. Saranac attempts too much and it shows.

Serving type: bottle

07-05-2007 18:59:47 | More by dreadnatty08

tdm168

North Carolina

3.33/5  rDev -4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear gold with two fingers of head and nice retention; a lot of carbonation coming to the top. Smells of clove and spice with very mild banana coming through. Taste is mild banana and a more evident clove; rather weak flavor profile. Too heavily carbonated and thin; light and watery.

A beginner's hefeweizen if there ever was one. Flavors are light and mild. There's nothing here that stands out. One and done for me.

Serving type: bottle

08-05-2011 01:35:31 | More by tdm168

Bighuge

Minnesota

3.35/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Hazy golden in color. A clingy marshmellow like head sticks around for a while. Pretty nice banana/vanilla mix on the nose. This beer has some nice things going, but lacks the overall complexity needed for a higher rating. Spiciness is lacking, but the smooth banana esters are nice. Very, very slight clove is detected in the background. Very little hop contributions, as it should be, and some slight lemony refreshing notes are present. Body is close to medium. Decent and drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

11-14-2002 19:22:36 | More by Bighuge

mschofield

Massachusetts

3.35/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Pours a slightly hazy, well carbonated orange-gold, four finger creamy rocky white head. Well befits the style, sticky bits on lacing are left behind.
Strong banana aroma, some light clove, and a sweet wheat tone.
Similar in the taste, sweet malt, wheat, some citrus and banana.
Light feel, honeyish aftertaste, good drinkability

Serving type: bottle

04-05-2004 21:50:49 | More by mschofield

Gmann

New York

3.35/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a slightly hazy golden color with an average off-white head. Nothing fantastic, sub par for a hefe. The smell has a distinct clove, bubblegum smell, not bad. The taste is a little watery for a hefe but has the characteristics of a hefe. The taste is of clove, wheat malt, and some sour apple. The feel is a bit too crisp and watery for a hefe. This is a pretty good Saranac offering. It has a good aroma and taste and is easily drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

05-25-2007 23:53:35 | More by Gmann

RedChrome

Connecticut

3.35/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Very faint haze to thee dark golden color. Head was limited to a small white sheen on the top. Lots of carbonation bubbles rising rapidly. Watery lacing rings.

Very light banana presence. Spiciness is subdued and unidentifiable as anything specific. Malt and yeast aromas hang in the back of the nose. Light plastic hint.

Watery flavors have a dominant taste of dehydrated banana chips. Fruit has a plastic like coating to the flavor. Hints of allspice and clove. Nice blend, but weak.

Watery body runs away from taste centers. Carbonation makes a quick pop on the surfaces and dies quickly.

Above average beer. Nice pairing for a more delicate German style dish. Nothing to go crazy for compared to others in the style. Decent to try out of the mixed pack.

Serving type: bottle

12-04-2007 07:22:58 | More by RedChrome

WesWes

New York

3.38/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

The beer pours a slightly cloudy pale gold color with a thick frothy white head. The aroma is average. It has a weak and watery wheat scent that contributes a mild banana and clove aroma. This is typical of macro hefes. They have a filtered feel to them. The taste is decent. It has a mild wheat flavor that finishes dry and fruity. It tastes better than the aroma indicates. The mouthfeel is decent. It is a low bodied beer with good carbonation. This beer is a good drinker even though it is a weak example of the style. This would be a good choice on those hot summer days.

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2004 00:59:23 | More by WesWes

gestalt162

New York

3.38/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12 oz. brown bottle, again part of the summer 12 pack. tulip/hurricane style glass...

A: Cloudy, bubbly deep golden/orange hue, topped off by a (surprisingly large) 2 finger head that's slow to dissipate. Lots of little carbonated bubbles running up the sides of the glass. Lacing is almost non-existent, just a couple thick strands, and what there is of it slowly drools away into the bottom of the glass. Good looking enough, but for a hefe, not that impressive.

S: Banana bread, sweet wheat malt, and (another surprise) a musty, earthy grassiness. Interesting.

T: Hits you first with a classic banana/clove wheat malt flavor. Balanced by a touch of earthiness in the middle, not nearly as much as the aroma seemed to indicate, and a mild hop bitterness in the back. Ends with a clove-spiced wheat flavor. Pretty well balanced.

This brew seems weak on flavor, like they took a higher quality hefe and watered it down a little. As time goes on, it gets even thinner and more watery. Kind of depressing.

MF: Light, a little too light and thin, with no legs in your mouth. Impeccably smooth. Carbonation doesn't bite like I thought it would.

D: Light and drinkable, but suitable for summer armchair ammo only due to its thin and watery feel and taste.

Serving type: bottle

06-17-2008 03:48:25 | More by gestalt162

CharlesRiver

Connecticut

3.4/5  rDev -2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

This bottle is from the variety 12 pack from Saranac. The bottle indicates that this is a "limited release". The smell is very powerful with hints of banana, yeast and something very sweet. Pours a glowing yellow color with a 1/4 inch head that doesn't last at all. The taste starts out nice, malty, sweet and some bananas. There is a drop off of flavor in the middle and end leaving nothing for the aftertate. This seems very odd, there is no flavor in the end. Not a bad beer, but not my favorite.

Serving type: bottle

01-23-2003 14:25:12 | More by CharlesRiver

lackenhauser

Maryland

3.4/5  rDev -2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Somewhat cloudy in color with a very slight white head. Low aroma-sort of yeasty and bready. Mellow flavor-not as in your face with the bananas and cloves as traditional hefes. Has a nice phenolic "bite" to it. Quite crisp and dry. Ok enough body. Fairly drinkable beer-has more of the hefe qualities then a lot of other US examples. While I am not a hefe fan I could see this with some spicy Thai food or on a hot summer's day. Worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

06-28-2006 23:16:29 | More by lackenhauser

SIRIUS2

North Carolina

3.4/5  rDev -2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Poured from a 12 oz. Bottle into a pint glass.

A: Pale gold in color, clear, with an uneven white head. Head dissipates slowly but eventually leaves a bubble film with a thick white ring. No notable lacing.

S: Smokey wheat chaff smell with a faint citrus hops.

T&M: Malty sweetness, classic wheat flavor, with a slightly fruity kind of overtone. Carbonation is light, lending to a creamy texture. The finish tends a tad watery and a toward dry, then lingering with that wheat chaff taste so typical in wheat brews.

D: Nice texture. Decent taste. Very...wheaty. Not a huge fan of wheat beer but this one is okay but nothing special.

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2008 01:41:31 | More by SIRIUS2

Jimmys

Pennsylvania

3.4/5  rDev -2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

reviewed on 6/10/11 - from notes:

A: hazy orange with carbonation that can be seen. white head doesn’t have very good retention and quickly moves to just a film.

S: clove, slight banana. definitely a definitive wheat. coconut water?

T: malt chewiness. clove and black pepper. a nip of alcohol and apple.

M: a soft taffy like mouthfeel.

D: not a bad example, but there are definitely better ones out there. Saranac is really cranking out a lot of different styles so you cant have them all perfect.

Serving type: bottle

06-15-2011 00:50:26 | More by Jimmys

MuenchenerKindl

Germany

3.43/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 12 oz. Bottle to a nice hefe glass. From a cloudy medium dark yellow liquid rises a nice big bubbly head. The color of this beer is surprisingly darker then what I expected.

The smell is of classis hefeweissen, however it is a little week. Banana/clove and something like bubblegum, more so to me in this offering than in most of the hefes I've had.

The taste follow, very much like classic hefeweissen. The bubblegum taste stands out.

Mouthfeel is not bad, about ave. kind of soda like on the back of the throat.

Drinkability is also not to bad. I could have a few of these. Not my first, second or third choice, but it would due in a pinch. MK

Serving type: bottle

06-14-2006 04:52:03 | More by MuenchenerKindl

CraftBeerTastic

Pennsylvania

3.43/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Ba Review #33
Served On: 8/14/2011
Glassware: Tumbler Glass

Another one from the 2011 Saranac summer mixed pack.

Look: Poured a cloudy dull yellow with steady carbonation and lots of floatys from the sediment. Head was a fluffly white 1 finger. I couldn't get over the amount of sediment in this.

Smell: Heavy clove notes – almost like a burnt plastic. Maybe some banana, but it was hard to get past the intense clove.

Taste: The taste was certainly a surprise. Clove obviously dominated the palate, but banana was also just as present, I also got that signature Saranac maltiness. There were peppery notes throughout each sip. The finish was of fruity mango with a dryness that ultimately became the aftertaste.

This actually was a very balanced Hefeweizen. Not one quality was too overpowering. So often, Belgian style beers seem to go way overboard on the clove.

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2011 16:42:04 | More by CraftBeerTastic

connecticutpoet

Connecticut

3.45/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

This was a hazy yellow beer with a half finger head made of large bubbles, that died away rather quickly, leaving only a ring around the glass, no lacing.

Aroma was of bananas, yeast, cloves, and light sweet fruits. Pretty good.

Taste was definitely of banana on the forefront, with wheat malts, and a little spiciness on the end.

Mouthfeel was OK... a little more carbonated than I would have liked, but to be expected in the style.

Drinkability is a little better than average, but it wasn't tremendous, because the flavors didn't really grab the tongue, more like washed over it gently.

Serving type: bottle

06-27-2005 03:06:25 | More by connecticutpoet