Snapshot

Bottle. Lactic wheat malt aroma. Hazy pale yellow with giant white head. Sweet-tart lemon wheat malt flavor. Not bad - standard.

Location: 12 oz bottle from some random store near the Grand Canyon, 3/7/14

Aroma: The nose is wheaty and light, mildly tart, and a little simple
Appearance: It pour a hazy yellow color with a white head and average lace
Flavor: The flavor is wheaty and light, mild tart notes, dull flavor overall
Palate: The body is light, with too much carbonation, and a tingly finish on the mouth
Overall Impression: I wasn't overly impressed by this. It's a dull wheat beer with a mild, unexciting tartness that really doesn't do much to improve the beer in my opinion. Eh...

Bottle from petrol station near Miami. Hazy light golden coloured, white head. Nose is wheat, slightly sour, bit of grass. Flavour is wheat, sour, light malted, tart. Light bodied. Finish is watery.

Bottle: Pours hazy yellow with a huge white head. Wheat, orange, lemon aroma. Tart, lemony wheat flavor. Very tart. Pretty good...lively.

12 ounce bottle into signature globe glass, best before 5/11/2014. Pours very hazy golden amber color with a 1-2 finger dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice soapy lacing clings around the glass, with some light streaming carbonation. Aromas of big lemon zest, orange zest, pear, apple, light banana, clove, pepper, wheat, bread, herbal, floral, and yeast earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance of malt, hop, and fruity/spicy yeast ester notes; with good strength. Taste of big lemon zest, orange zest, pear, apple, light banana, clove, pepper, wheat, bread, herbal, floral, and yeast earthiness. Fair amount of fruity/wheat tartness on the finish; with lingering notes of lemon/orange zest, pear, apple, light banana, clove, pepper, wheat, bread, herbal, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice balance and robustness of malt, hop, and yeast ester flavors; with a good malt/yeast flavor balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, crisp, and slightly creamy mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a very nice pale wheat ale. All around good balance and robustness of malt, hop, and yeast ester flavors; and extremely smooth and crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.

Pour is a hazy yellow with a average white head. Aroma is some wheat malt but not much else. Flavor is wheaty with a little tant zing at the end. It’s a wheat nothing special.

New Belgium was going for "sour ale for the masses" with this, but what the ended up with was something that just tasted like a really off or mildly infected American wheat - mouthfeel is thick and yeasty - flavor is actually fairly sweet at first - a lot of citrus flavors, lemon cream, orange peel - some gross creamed corn/adjuncty flavors - dull, dense, neutral yeast flavors - lacto tartness arrives late and does not really add anything at all - it combines with the citrus notes to create a flavor not unlike spoiled orange juice - the more I drink of this, the less I like it - between this and the way the Broncos are playing right now, I’m having a pretty shitty night.

Bottle @ home, picked up in Fort Collins. Sunshine Wheat and Mothership Wit have long been some of my favorite wheat / session beers, so I was excited to hear about this one. Pours a cloudy milky light yellow appearance with a white head. Doesn’t look much different from a Witbier. A fair amount of wheat in the nose with some notes of lemon meringue and vanilla. The lacto addition is definitely noticeable but not in a good way. It has a slight vomit / corny / young aroma. Feels a little thicker on the tongue than expected. The flavor isn’t all that enjoyable. More corn, custard, lemon, and hay in the flavor. Sort of sweet and just a touch tart. Sunshine Wheat is way more chuggable. Goddammit, I was really hoping for a winner here, but based on New Belgium’s most recent output, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised.

Bottled sample. Pours a hazy yellow color with a medium sized frothy off-white head. Good head retention. Aroma of banana, tropical fruit, spice, apple. The taste is tart tropical fruits, faint lactic tartness. Medium bodied, high carbonation, refreshing.