Hopster 5.95% ABV
Hefeweizen
New Glarus Brewing Co.
Today starts the first of four New Glarus Tuesdays. For each of the remaining Tuesdays in June, I’ll be reviewing a different beer from the New Glarus Sampler Pack I picked up while in Milwaukee. Yes, this is part of an overall Wisconsin theme for the month of June. Not every review will be Wisconsin based, but most of them will. Find out tomorrow which brewery I’ll be spotlighting on Wednesdays and Fridays for the rest of the month.
I can not stress enough, how crisp and refreshing this beer is. It is perfect for a summer evening outside. Though the time is getting late, the sun is still shining as it ever so slowly sets. You’ll be drinking one of these way too fast to get through the entirety of the sun’s dip below the horizon. I strongly recommend procuring a 6 pack, so you can drink 2 or 3 bottles while enjoying the end of a long summer day. I’m currently kicking myself for only getting one sampler pack of New Glarus beers, and I haven’t even tried all of them yet.
I want to talk about the proprietary Bavarian Weiss Yeasts used in the making of this beer, it has a great Hefeweizen backbone, but I can’t seem to come up with the right words to describe the flavor. The Amarillo hops are not overt, they provide the beer with a nice balance, a hint of hops, but I am not bombarded by them. This is far from the 3 Floyds Gumballhead which packs tons of Amarillo hops in. While I would pick the 3 Floyds Gumballhead over this brew in a heads up challenge, this beer is still damn good. It is now my second favorite “Hopped Wheat Ale.” Given how much I love Gumballhead this is high praise indeed.
The beer has a wonderfully creamy head that dissipates slightly but remains floating on the top of the brew even as you drink it all the way down to the bottom of your glass. The beer is light, oh so light, especially given it’s near 6% ABV. As I work my way through the contents, the hops begin to nibble on me in the finish. I enjoy the nibble instead of looking quickly for another sip, I don’t want the nibbler to scurry off and vanish. Ahh, this is truly a fine beer.
A gave a bottle of this along with one of each of the three other beers from the sampler pack, to a friend of mine. He generally is opposed to Hefeweizens. When I say opposed, it’s more like he disdains them. He was weary about trying this brew, due to it’s wheat beer foundation, heck Untappd classifies it as a Hefeweizen. Maybe it was the use of Amarillo hops that he loves, maybe it was the way Dan, of New Glarus, perfectly melded this Hefeweizen and American Pale Ale combination. Whatever the reason Hopster became his favorite of the four New Glarus beers I gifted him. There is nothing quite like giving a beer to a friend and having them throughly enjoy it, wouldn’t you agree?
If you ever come upon a Sampler Pack of New Glarus, buy it without a second thought. Better yet, buy 2 or 3 of them. I assume this strong encouragement will only get more intense as I review the other beers within said Sampler Pack. Check back next Tuesday to find out.
365 Brew 