Brooklyn Brewing Brooklyner Wheat Beer (5/10)

Brooklyner Wheat Beer is produced by Brooklyn Brewing Company of New York.  It's a Hefeweizen style beer.

Brooklyner Wheat Beer pours a clear pale gold color with thick white head that disappears very soon after it's poured and leaves behind no lacing. That's not typical for a weizen, which usually has excellent head retention.  Once poured, it almost looks like a glass of apple juice.

The aroma is malty, with no hint of hops to it. There's not much to the aroma.  There are none of the clove or banana aromas you often find in German versions of the beer.

The flavor is fairly non-descript.  There is virtually no hops presence detectable in it, which is unusual for Brooklyn product.  The usual banana and clove flavors you find in a weizen is absent here.  It's malty, very mildly sweet, with just the barest hint of citrus.  Honestly, if you'd handed me this without showing me the bottle, I'd believe that it's any one of a number of macro brews, mild pilsners, or basic lagers.  That's not to say it's bad or unpleasant at all - it isn't.  It just doesn't make me instantly think "hefeweizen" when I drink it.  It's smooth and easy enough to drink.

Beer Advocate's reviewers give Brooklyner Wheat Beer an 83 or "good" rating.  Rate Beer gives it only a 62.  In my own rating system, which compares it to a macro brew, with 5 meaning I'd like it no more or less than a macro, and 10 meaning it's fantastic, this beer's a solid 5.  There's nothing about it that makes me want to rush out and have it again, yet nothing wrong with it that I wouldn't be willing to drink it if someone handed me a bottle at a party or beer festival.

This particular bottle was purchased at Kenny Road Market.  I've not noticed the beer on shelves at other Columbus retailers.