ClubGonzo’s Israeli Wheat

Israeli Wheat by ClubGonzo, Wheat Ale, 4.2% ABV, 17 IBU.

According to the label this is a clone of a beer from the Israeli homebrewers Shmuel Naky and Naama Halevi. Let’s see if a Norwegian can brew with sage, lavender and lemon!

ClubGonzo’s Israeli Wheat, batch no 34

The aroma is strong with lovely sweet floral notes, this truly smells like the lavender plant I bought a week ago.

Israeli homebrew clone from Bergen.

Equally strong and lovely are spicy minty herbs, wheat and citric hints. I promise, I’m not just reading from the ingredient list on the label.

The flavour is very herbal, the minty herbs from the aroma now also has a liquorice anise seed touch. The lavender notes are still present, and the lemon gives just the right crispiness. The taste is moderate to light sweet with some dryness in the surprisingly long-lasting floral finish. There is very little bitterness, and very little flavour or aroma that could be attributed to hops. It’s quite light on the palate, the carbonation is moderate and it’s absolutely clean without any off-flavours.

In the glass it’s medium amber and clear, with a small white head that pretty soon reduces to a partially covering film, without lacing the glass.

Conclusion: an exciting, complex, unusual and enjoyable beer!

Aroma:      7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste:      7/10
Palate:     3/5
Overall:    14/20
Ratebeer score: 3.4/5.0

 

JoKr Brewers Wheat As I Am

Wheat As I Am by JoKr Brewers, Wheat Ale, 5.8 % ABV, 29 IBU.

Ever since I got a bottle of Wheat As I Am in my beer cellar, a certain song has been churning in my head, refusing to let go. I figured the best way to make room for more useful stuff in my small brain was to get rid of the bottle as soon as possible, so here we go!

“In this tainted soul,
In this weak young heart,
Am I too much for you?”

JoKr Brewers Wheat As I Am, batch 18. Looks good here, but the head collapses quickly.

The body is cloudy, medium orange, and the head is large, frothy, egg white, fairly short-lived and leaves some lacing on the glass. Not an impressive sight, but doesn’t look bad either.

The aroma is pleasant, although not that strong. I get some nice spicy notes, yeast and there is a good deal of fruits present, e.g. hints of banana.

When it comes to the flavours this brew starts to collapse… Although the taste is ok, with a moderate to light sweetness and a quite short, light bitter finish, the flavours are both faint and not that pleasant. It’s quite unusual for a JoKr beer not to taste much, but this one doesn’t really taste much at all, apart from some totally out of style, stinging, very unpleasant, solvent-like notes of alcohol. Hm, haven’t I written about this before? In the back there are traces of spice, fruits and yeast, but these hints die out very quickly, leaving the aftertaste totally dominated by the harsh alcohol.

I think there is quite some residual sweetness in this one, both due to the rather sweet taste and the medium body. That’s about the only positive thing I can say about the mouthfeel: because of the alcohol this beer is pretty close to undrinkable.

Conclusion: nice aroma and ok taste, but the flavours and mouthfeel are ruined by the added nail polish remover. I couldn’t finish the 0.25 cl bottle.

Aroma:      6/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste:      4/10
Palate:     2/5
Overall:    7/20
Ratebeer score: 2.2/5.0