Paper City Brewery Co., Inc
Holyoke, MD
Available: MA
Cabot Street Wheat is one of three German-style beers produced by Paper City Brewery. A traditional top fermenting Weihenstephan wheat beer yeast is used, as well as a substantial portion of light German wheat in the grist. The bittering hopes are German Perle.
ABV: 5.5
ABW: 4.8
Color: 5.3
Bitterness: 14
Original gravity: 1052
The Bavarian character is not quite up to expectations of the type—yet it is smooth and delicious. Definitely bottle conditioned, it is rather mellow for style. This may be an advantage. If you’ve never tasted Bavarian weiss beer, this is a good introduction to that style. There is not the overwhelming banana ester presence found in so many straight-from-Bavaria beers on the market place. AND, it improves in the glass; that’s always a plus in my book.
The beer pours deep gold and hazy with orange highlights, raising a fluffy white head. The nose is pleasantly fruity, with a dominant aroma of green apples. On the palate, the beer is lightly hopped and shows fine, quenching acidity. The center is slightly sweet and fruity, but it dries up in the finish. It’s nice to see an American hefeweizen that’s the real thing instead of an American-style wheat beer dressed up in lederhosen. This is a very nice, well-balanced rendition of the classic style. Bring on the salade niçoise.
Big, bubbly-creamy, very white head. Huge creamy head. Darkish yellow-bronze color. Fine haze. Slightly vegetal, sulfury, aroma. I was reminded of alder on a barbecue. The phenolic note found in some German wheat beers is mentioned on the label. This is an authentic example. I found it dry at first, with its firm, lean, body, Then a nice lemony acidity emerged. Could go well with roasted vegetables (artichoke?) and perhaps griddled fish.
Fred Eckhardt lives, writes about and drinks beer in Portland, OR. He is the author of The Essentials of Beer Style and Saké.
Internationally recognized brewer and expert on traditional beer, Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Brewmaster's Table.
Author of Ultimate Beer, the Simon & Schuster Guide to Beer and numerous other works on drinks, Michael Jackson has created legions of converts to fine beer.
