Widmer Alchemy Ale

I've only had one Widmer Bros. beer before.  I try not to judge a brewery overall until I've had most of their offerings, so to start filling in some gaps, I picked their Alchemy Ale for one of my mix-a-sixers:

Vittles:
American Pale Ale
5.8% abv
40 IBU

Score:
Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 21/25
Taste: 34/40
Mouthfeel: 8/10
Style: 5/5
Drinkability: 8/10
Overall: 84/100

Impression:
It's a pretty pour with good retention, almost brilliant clarity, and moderate lacing.  Fruity, floral, spicy, and bready notes in the aroma are fairly balanced and enticing.  Citrus (orange zest and grapefruit) come out more on the tongue, as do caramel, vanilla, banana, and toasted grains, with an underlying floral quality.  With decent carbonation and an almost silky texture, this is an enjoyable brew.  It finishes dry and slightly crisp with a subdued aftertaste.  Decent overall, a solid beer, but it seems a little generic since there isn't much to really distinguish this beer from other APAs.  I'd like to try it again, maybe on tap.

Cheers!

Widmer Bros. Hefeweizen

I'm a huge fan of hefeweizens.  True hefeweizens, that is, not to be confused with American wheat beers (which I also tend to enjoy, but not as much as I do a good hefe!).  And I'm always on the lookout for hefes that I haven't tried before, so I snagged Widmer Bros. Hefeweizen when I mixed myself a sixer a couple weeks ago:

Vittles:

American Wheat Beer

4.9% abv

30 IBUs

First Impression:

Surprisingly bitter for a "hefe."  It wasn't nearly as cloudy as I expected, despite my rousing the sediment mid-pour; it smelled and tasted too strongly of American hops like Cascade (the grapefruit flavors were very much out of place for a hefe, but would have been fine in an American wheat beer); and there was a fairly strong sulfuric odor and taste when I first poured.  Thankfully, the sulfuric notes faded with time, but the bitter grapefruit flavors lingered and were unpleasant in this beer.  The head poured decently, maybe about an inch of rocky white foam, but it fell pretty quickly and left little lacing.

The problem here is labeling, I think.  I went into it expecting banana and clove esters because Widmer Bros. chose to call it a hefeweizen, which is misleading.  While there were slight hints of banana, I didn't pick up on any clove, and the American hops flavors were, as I said, unexpected.  I wouldn't have gone into tasting this beer with any of those expectations if they had labeled it as an American wheat beer -- why use a name that implies German flavors when you intend on producing an American flavored beer?  I realize that many people use the two terms synonymously, but that only adds to the confusion.  This is not a hefe.  However, it is a fairly decent example of an American wheat beer.

Appearance: 8/10

Aroma: 19/25

Taste: 30/40

Mouthfeel: 8/10
Style: 4/5
Drinkability: 7/10
Overall: 76/100

Sad to say, I was displeased with this beer, but maybe that's my own fault for having those damn expectations.  On to the next...

~Cheers!