(Draught at BrewDog Camden, London, 20 Nov 2013) Amber colour with dense, off-white head. Malty, fruity nose with ripe banana, dried fruit and hints of chocolate. Fruity, malty taste with notes of banana, caramel, dried fruit, a slight wheat beer character and a certain citric bitterness. Medium body, with a certain sweetness. A bit weird, but interesting. Quite nice. (Note on the style: this is actually not a German Hefeweizen, since there’s no wheat in it, it’s just the same kind of yeast strain. Unsure what it is though.) 6/4/7/4/13=3.4 Rerate: (Bottle, 13 Feb 2016) Hazy amber colour with frothy, beige head. Malty, fruity nose with apricots, orange peel, crisp-bread, estery hints of clove and banana. Malty, fruity taste with notes of orange peel, crisp-bread, apricots, toffee, some clove and a balanced spicy bitterness in the finish. Medium body, with a certain sweetness. There are some spicy, estery weizen characteristics, but some are also lacking (but then it isn’t really a hefeweizen). Still, quite enjoyable.

33cl bottle from Appellation Wines. Appearance - amber with a very generous head. Nose - very gentle banana, a hint of drying malt. Taste - lemon, biscuits then creaminess. Palate - initially creamy but then very drying malty mouthfeel until the end. Overall - not a hefeweizen in terms of anything I’ve really tried before.

Bottle from Cornelius. Hazy golden body with microscopic yeast flecks floating around. No visible carbonation. Nice lacing. Green, hoppy aroma with banana and peach. Lacking the typical pepper and clove flavour I’ve come to expect from this style and has an unusual a faint tropical fruit finish. Medium body with an oily mouthfeel. Very soft carbonation. An odd Hefeweizen, but one I enjoyed.

Bottle via BD. It pours hazy amber with a medium white head. The nose is dough, earth, banana, herbal and spicy notes. The taste is spicy, bitter-sweet, herbal, cabbage, grass, dried banana, citrus rind and decent bitterness with a dry, spicy finish. Medium body and fine, prickly carbonation. Odd cabbage-like aspect to it. Balance not quite there. So-so.

330ml bottle from Brewdog online shop, shared at home as part of a tasting of all four in the series. Same amber-orange pour, decent white head, but didn’t last as long as I’d expected. No immediate banana or clove on the aromas, just that hint of vinegar that I’ve got in all but the American one. Texture is different on this one, very creamy, and vanilla notes come through as it goes down, finally come banana at the end. More a US Wheat Ale than a German one though. Too bitter for the style.