As I’ve mentioned in my last several posts, I’m in the Seattle and Redmond, Washington area for work this week. Specifically, the conference I’m attending is on the Microsoft campus. This evening, we had another networking mixer. At the mixer, they had a few different craft brews. After having a Scotch Style Pike Kilt Lifter, I noticed this beer, which I hadn’t added to this list yet.

Location: Poured into a curved pilsner glass from the bottle on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, WA.

Numbers: 5.4% ABV, 22 IBUs, 1.055 OG, 182 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s got a hazy golden-orange color and frothy white head, which fell after a couple of minutes and remained as a ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass. The aroma is bready and wheaty with hints of fruitiness.

Taste & Feel: The body was light-medium with bit of carbonation crispness for mouthfeel. The flavors were fairly yeasty and wheaty from the front to the back. The bready malt flavors came through, but were mixed with some yeastiness that had a little bit of fruitiness. In the finish, there’s a little bit of bitterness to balance out the maltiness a bit.

Food Pairing: This is a fairly bready and yeasty beer, and therefore, I’d definitely pair it with some spicy foods. For me, I’d pair it with some spicy chicken pad Thai, as the bready and yeasty flavors would help to knock down the spiciness quite a bit between bites.

Overall Impression: When I first saw this beer, the labeling had me confused. With the name Leavenworth, I assumed it was from Kansas, but they had “biers” with the German spelling. Then I found out it was from Fish Brewing in Washington. Aside from the confusing packaging, I thought the beer had quite a bit of breadiness and yeastiness. I know the flavor of hefeweizens is supposed to come from the yeast, but this was a bit too much. Overall, I found it to be a fairly average wheat beer.

My Rating:

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