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weisse

southern light

After a beer fair you might not want to go back to the same old, same old. Garage is a very familiar and beloved brewery, but they do have a few special things in their cans. I have had Barcelona Weisse before, but in a different iteration; this is the 8th anniversary version, with a collectable sticker on the can. Calvell 45 does its best to bring you in, with a list of tropical fruits promising a bouncier, more colorful weisse.

Can seems extra full and aroma is extra fruity. It has a distinct mandarin scent to it, and while it does pour out fizzy, the liquid looks a lot like mandarin juice from a can. Well, a little more color, Fanta thinned with mandarin juice. The head dies back immediately although tiny bubbles continue to rise. The first sip starts out thick and much more bitter than expected, rolling over to a more citrusy tang, and ending on an orange pith note. The weisse kind of sour actually takes a couple of sips to come out. It’s that blend of bitter and sour that weisses tend to have, with a touch more fruit than the traditional ones offer. It’s very light in the mouth, effervescent even, with sort of a champagne feel; it might be a good substitute for a beer focused celebration. Now that temperatures are reasonable for the time, I’m wishing I had more good stouts, like were at Beermad, but you really can’t complain with Garage.

Supplier: La Mundial
Price: €6.50

life in the sun

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Given family and vacation connections, I could not ignore Jakobsland’s I Can Make You Smile.  A Florida weisse?  It seems to make sense from a weather standpoint.  Those weisses are sharp and refreshing, not the kind of beers that leave your mouth coated, suitable for additives you might feel like doing while you laze around on the beach or by the pool.  Maybe it’s even a beer you could have in celebration of voting out a wildly unreasonable governor who will then not go on to be president.  Maybe?  Hopefully.

Similar in appearance to fruity lambics, a little tang in the aroma. Fluffy, resistant head, tinted pink. It has the tight dryness of a weisse, with a little sour only developing in the aftertaste. There’s kind of a fruity bed that the stiff alcohol rides in on, but it’s not very sweet at all. Wild fruit, just sweet enough to not punish you for eating it. It’s almost shockingly untropical for something labeled with Florida. The dryness wears off a little over time and rising temperature, but it stays clean and mouth cleansing more than anything else. I have to be honest, though, while the beer has a nostalgic Kool-Aid color, and it’s a perfectly fine modern weisse, a stout would always make me smile more.

Supplier: Labirratorium

Price: €6.85

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