This Is My Blood: Independent Voices

I'm pecking away at drinking every beer style found on the list I made HERE. I'm also going through all the beers I bought at Attic Brewing Co. I'm also also splitting these beers with Pam because if I drink any more than a half a beer I'm going to want to drink thirteen more.

American Wheat Ale
(#78)
Exemplified by Independent Voices

I am always appreciative when I'm able to connect the dots between two beer styles that I wouldn't have been able to for otherwise. It makes sense that wheat ales are a cousin to German hefeweizens, just based on taste, but I wouldn't have thought about it that way without Tasting Beer making the connection explicit. They are both light and refreshing, and both are made with wheat ("duh!" for wheat ales, "huh!" for hefeweizen).

Here are the main differences; there are two. First, the classic banana and clove flavors of hefeweizens are missing in wheat, meaning that they are fermented a little different (wheat beers less exotically so). Second, American wheat beers tend to focus on the hops (at least within the past decade or so). We're not talking imperial IPA levels of hop flavor, but definitely some mild fruitiness, medium bitterness, and so on.

It's weird writing about a beer called a wheat ale and not focusing on the wheat aspect of it, but long time readers will already know the score when it comes to wheat vs. barley. It's just a different grain, one that creates a bit different of a texture. For wheat (and you'll see later this week for oatmeal as well) beers, the texture is a little creamier than a beer made with barley. (Also—I have no idea if I've been using the "creamy" adjective correctly this year so far; when I hear "creamy," I think of something like a stout, not a goddamn wheat beer. Always more to learn.)

NOTES

BEER: Independent Voices

STYLE: American Wheat Ale

ABV: 5.2%

BREWED BY: Attic Brewing Co.

LOCATION: Philly!

PURCHASED AT: The brewery delivered it (in the trunk of a warm car from Germantown to Port Richmond, hence the above pictured beer label that has bled a little bit)

PAIRED WITH: Fried eggplant

GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5

BEER COUNT: 194