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Beer Reviews

Honey Wheat Ale

Other reviews for this beer:
Jill Jaracz		read it ›

America’s Brewing Company
Aurora, IL
USA
http://www.walterpaytonsroundhouse.com/content/5.html

Style: Wheat
ABV: 5.4%

Eddie’s Rating:
   (Outstanding within its style.)


Comments:
Not sure what the late Bear great Walter Payton has to do with beer, or why the restaurant bearing his name has a brewery in it called America’s Brewing Co., or why said restaurant and brewery are in Aurora, a city far enough away from Chicago to not be considered a suburb, and whose other claim to fame is being the home of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar from Wayne’s World (and, I guess, Wayne’s World 2). All that confusion and wondering aside, the one beer I’ve had from America’s Brewing Company at Walter Payton’s Roundhouse in Aurora, Illinois turned out to be pretty damn good.

The beer is Honey Wheat, an American wheat ale. It pours with a mondo, snow white head atop a semi-cloudy, light orange, gorgeous brew. The nose sports an enticing mix of fruity citrus notes and yeasty, biscuit-like malt. Behind a surprisingly soft body lies a combo of curbed carbonation and muted maltiness. The fruitiness you’d find in traditional German weiss beers comes out in the middle of the sip, but those notes are pretty far in the background. Instead, a tiny nip of hops pops up to snip off the malt and fruit sweetness, letting that indicative dry “buzz” of fermented honey to come through across the finish.

America’s Brewing Company’s Honey Wheat ale is a light, refreshing, but welcomingly complex entry in the American wheat style. I was without a doubt impressed with my first sampling from this newly distributing brewery, and am looking forward to trying more of what they have to offer.

Reviewed by Eddie Glick on August 27, 2008.

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