Profiled by Ken Carman for PGA
Yarrow nose with rosehips (slight which could be other spices, or even mistaken for banana.) Somewhat of a wheat-like nose, or hefe yeast. Not much else but pilsner malt, or pale, way in the background.
Pillow head combined with a few medium-size bubbles. Very hazy, about an SRM 2. Head hangs.
Mouthfeel is wheat like: proteins. A hint of spices disappear very quickly. Low isde medium body,
Taste is very hefeweizen-like, with wheat-like protein sense in the mix. Elderberry, bog myrtle, Horehound, wormwood all seem missing. The bitter seems yarrow-like and it’s just bitter. Flavor mostly absent. Hint of orange which is rosehip-like but may be the elderflowers.
Beeradvocate gives it an 82 and an 86 for owners of site. Rate Beer 85 and 89 (“style” again done by site owners.) BA says base beer is Scottish. When did the Scots start brewing wheat beer?
Honestly? Why did they bother?To me the point of brewing a gruit is to honor a style before hops were almost mandatory in beer, and if what you have is a good wheat-beer like quaff, I don’t get the point. I have noticed this with Lips of Faith: hit and miss. Sometimes it’s exactly what they say: like the curry coconut. Sometimes they miss the mark, like this one. A gruit should stand out as spiced by somthing other than hops, and a quaff that’s unique. This is not.
3.5, with a .5 for “not bad for what could have been an odd wheat beer. The oddity is I wonder if they even used wheat. If not the spices came of as such.
Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”
