天堂與天堂的交集甚麼樣？就ㄓㄟˋ個樣。

著名的紐約Brooklyn酒廠與傳統德國weizen老廠Bräuhaus G. Schneider & Sohn合作交流，在Weizen/Weizenbock的基調上，雙方釀酒師分別以對方地區偏好與善長使用的酒花品種，以美式IPA需求的比重與 Dry-hopping 技法，各自變化運用，在對方的酒廠中分別釀造，成了兩款可平行比較的超級佳釀。這裡的德國版，根本就是人間仙露…

Schneider-Brooklyner, Hopfen-Weisse, 8.2%abv. (Weizenbock)

Bottle-Conditioned Version

Purchased from the Beers of Europe; BB 07/01/09, served lightly chilled in a pint-size weizen glass. Hops used in this version: Hallertau and Saphir.

4.5/5 Appearance: pours a murky dark brown-ish amber hue; the beige frothy head comes big, fluffy and thick, lasting extremely well on top of a lively but not OTT carbonated body.

4.5/5 Smell: smells more like an extremely hoppy DIPA upfront! The sweet caramely malts, fat longan-fruits, ripe and juicy Philippino mangos, banana-oil, and thickly flowery scents of US hops dominate the theme, backed by a real solid backbone of wheat-ish, dusty and clove-ish notes. Rather sweet and absolutely hoppy upfront.

4.5/5 Taste: a very complex swallow of oily, piney, lychee-ish, citric and spicy hops rests on a fat caramely-malty backbone, ringing a bell of DIPA for the density of hops in the overall balance; the aftertaste, slightly more like a Weizen, radiates plentiful spicy (not so clove-ish) notes and chewy/tannic, rubbed semi-fermented tea-leaves (signs of young hops) to pair with the never-ending hop aroma down the wings of the tongue (a gift of dry-hopping), while the bitterness, deep as it is, remains in good control without going mad like a true DIPA. Granted, Weizen plays the junior partner in this harmonious marriage, but it retains a sound, yeasty profile underneath with a considerable mango-ish (and milder banana-oil) taste of special yeasts.

4.5/5 Mouthfeel & 5/5 Overall: a refreshing, lightly effervescent, carbonation contrasts with an oily and big hop/malt body just fine, while the alc. is very restrained and allows the flavour to develop without causing any heavy touch on the palate. This is a lovely lovely lovely… hoppy ale that I can drink non-stoppingly for hours! Given the German version of this hoppy weizenbock being already this BIG, I can’t imagine how much bolder the US version can be?! 

--Yau (tasted 01/02/2009, notes transcribed 13/03/2013)