Bristol Brewing Birthday Box #2 – Beehive Edition
It’s the end of July, and I almost cut this one too close. I realized that I hadn’t picked up the Birthday Box for Beehive Honey wheat, and the Compass box was coming out any time now.
The TLDR is if you haven’t bought it yet, go out and do so. Hurry. We picked ours up at Cheers, and they still had some left (as of a few days ago).
The variations are delicious, if you like wheat beer, hefeweizen, and wits, that is. If you don’t like wheat beers in their various forms, then maybe you can skip it.
It was really mind blowing to me how much of a difference changing one component of a beer can completely change the end result. My logical self knew that the difference flavors generated by different yeast is huge, especially when we’re talking about Hefeweizen and Belgian yeast strains, but having it right there on my palate was a reality I wasn’t expecting.
I asked Bristol if they used the same grain bill between the variations, but their only answer for this random person was that ” All of our beers have a special and unique recipe! “, but if there was a change in the malt bill, I would bet that it was fairly minor.
Now, onto the beers…
Beehive Honey Wheat – The Original – If you haven’t had the original by now, then really, there’s no one to blame but yourself. It’s a really nice wheat beer, leans a bit towards hoppy. Nice, low wheat / bready character, and a medium mouthfeel. It’s light enough for summertime enjoyment, but I’ll gladly have one any time of the year.
[Jesse] Like Mike said, if you haven’t had a Bristol Beehive Honey Wheat yet (and you live in Colorado), I don’t know what to say. This is a solid, nicely balanced wheat beer.
Beehive Hefeweizen – Little to no banana flavor, but lots of fruity ester flavors. Amazing what a change in yeast can accomplish, and the hefeweizen yeast really shows off what it can do, especially when compared to the original.
[Jesse] This is a great example of a hefeweizen. It had more of a coriander type of flavor and a lighter mouthfeel than the Honey Wheat.
Beehive Wit – This variation was just bursting with Belgian yeast character. I thought it had a bit of a thinner mouthfeel than the original, and of course, it was hazy. I’m sure there were some other additions to the recipe besides the yeast, but that’s what really popped for me. Really enjoyed it!
[Jesse] I have to be honest, I was hesitant to try this one for the simple fact that I really love witbiers and I was afraid that I would be disappointed. Well, I was fretting over nothing. This is a great beer. It was exactly what I expect a wit to taste like, specifically, the Belgian character at the finish.
Beehive Simcoe Hefeweizen – The addition of the simcoe hops to this one totally transformed the Hefeweizen. I was getting an aroma that kept going back and forth between pineapple and just pine. More bitter, and pretty fruity. Loved it as well.
[Jesse] This one was a bit of shock to me. This was still obviously a hefe, but the Simcoe hops added a distinct pine aroma and flavor. Initially, it was an odd combination but it grew on me quickly. I’ve found that many beers with the piney flavor are way too strong, but this one was nicely balanced so the pine flavor wasn’t overpowering.
I ran across this excellent review of the beers on the Colorado Springs Independent by Griffin Swartzell that I thought was right on the nose, although our impressions were slightly different.
When I had the laughing lab birthday box, we sampled the beers right away, and thought they were pretty good. Then I parked the remaining beers in storage for a little while, and didn’t have another for a few weeks. I have to say, the beer really developed in that time, and I thought they were all much better.
Wheat beers are known for a much shorter shelf life, and a lot of the flavor compounds disappear, or get metabolized by the yeast, as time goes on, and I wonder if that’s the case here. He wrote his review at the end of May, and we’re sampling it 2 months later. Maybe that’s where the coriander, orange peel, and banana flavors went? Who knows. Either way, we still really enjoyed the birthday box, and look forward to the next one.
