Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Weedwacker BABY!!

So I cut out fo work smackdab at quitting time and make a B-Line for downtown to the Saucer for some Weedwacker . As I set up shop at the kiosk to get my beer receipts, I find out that the Saucer does NOT have the Lawnmower beer, so I cannot do a side-by-side tasting of the Kolsch and Bavarian Hefe (not Belg Wit), with the same ingredients but different yeast strains.

Not to worry, I start out sitting outside with some Saint Arnold Texas Wheat, which never really did it for me, and built up to the moment of truth with some Harpoon UFO White. The Saucer is pack led and it's like New Year's Eve in there. Everyone is awaiting 6PM when they tap the keg of Weedwacker, a rare specialty beer from Saint Arnold. I'm somewhat in the wrong as I'm hogging an entire picnic table outside though I'm just sitting by myself and chatting it up with one of my boys from FAMU.

A couple looks all lost and I tell them to sit the hell down with me. Turns out the dude is a Sport Jiu Jitsu fighter (awesome) and his lady friend is a white woman who wishes she were half black (even better). I kept telling her the money is not as good, but whatever. The Weedwacker shows up in a cloudy straw color with a bubbly white head. Much more bubbly than your normal Belgian, much closer to a German Hefe (b/c it IS a Hefe).

I like how the nose on this has the veggie-lagerness of a kolsch (Lawnmower) and the estery-banana of the yeast (Weedwacker). The taste is much the same. I get the crisp lageriness of the kolsch with that banana weisse flavor throughout. Low to moderate hops. It honestly tastes like a combination of the two beers. How about THAT! The body of the beer is such that I would have sworn they put some wheat in that son of a gun, but not quite. (Turns out there is like 50% wheat, like the Texas Wheat. I'm getting better at my beer sampling, worse at Research). Although I enjoy both styles, especially when sitting outside in 99 deg weather, I think I would honestly prefer one or the other. Give me the full on kolsch with that cream ale-lager thing, or go all out with the wiesse. 3 Stars.

2 comments:

Lennie Ambrose said...

Hey Brotha! Just letting you know that it is actually Bavarian Hef yeast we used for the Weedwacker and not Belgian yeast. That is why you don't get much of a Belgian thing. Also, both the Lawnmower and the Weedwacker have 5% wheat malt. Cheers!

Lennie

The American Don said...

Thanks for the correction! I knew I read that somewhere. Good looking on the wheat beer quality. Unfortunately they didn't have the Lawnmower with it, or I would have caught it.