B.C. Beer Reviews is back to take a look at the first wet/fresh hop beer in the series. The Wet Hop Sour Weisse from Old Yale Brewing of Chilliwack, British Columbia is an interesting take on the wet/fresh hop craze that hits breweries in October and beyond.

B.C. Beer Reviews with Nic Hendrickson: Old Yale Brewing – Wet Hop Sour Weisse

Old Yale Brewing is well-known to make good beers and shake things up every once in a while. These are showcased in good beers like the Sasquatch Stout and interesting ones like their experimental vegemite gose.

Their adventurous side was brought out in this one. When every other brewery is capitalizing on the wet/fresh hops with pale ales and IPAs, Old Yale is making a sour weisse.

Let’s take a look at this one.

Colour

The colour is a nice golden amber hue. The clarity of this beer is absolutely fantastic. You can see straight through it. These notes match up perfectly with the traditional Weisse style.

Nose/Aroma

As is the case with most wet/fresh hop beers, there is a distinct vegetal scent aroma. The scents are very pungent, yet not overpowering. If you enjoy wet/fresh hop beers, this nose/aroma is going to be something you will enjoy.

Behind that vegetal hop scent is a slight earthiness. You also get the apparent, albeit small, scent of sourness that is typically associated with the Weisse style.

The combination of the first wet hop notes and the slight sour scent make for a very complex nose/aroma. It is quite interesting.

Overall this is a very interesting and very nice nose/aroma.

Tasting Notes

The wet hop taste is always going to be the predominant note on your palate with these types of beers. You get a slight, but pleasant, bit of the vegetal hoppy taste on the forefront.

The hop characteristics shine through nicely. Old Yale used Cashmere hops, which generally impart flavours of lemon, lime and melon. You can certainly get a good deal of the lemon and the lime, but not so much melon.

You get more of the tart, citrus pith taste that you would get with lemons and limes. It compliments the sour notes fantastically.

The wet hop characteristics, the lemon and lime and the sour notes add multiple layers of tastes to this. A nice layer of flavours that keep it in line with the style. Very nice.

Other Notes

The Wet Hop Sour Weisse is part of the Trailblazer Series from Old Yale. These are their single batch, limited release beers. Overall, this is a good addition to some very interesting beers in their stable.

Surprisingly enough, the sour notes are not the main player in this one. They add a nice layer of complexity to the beer. It makes it vastly more sessionable than most other sour beers you could get your hands on.

This beer did have a fairly significant head to it when first poured, even with a rather meticulous pour. Despite that it dissipated rather quickly. That is neither good nor bad in this case, as it does not really matter for this beer or the Weisse style in general.

Final Grade

As stated above, the sourness of this beer is very bearable, for lack of a better word. Where you might find yourself struggling to drink more than one bomber of other sour beers, this one is much easier to have another of.

It is a pleasant surprise, and that boasts well for this one.

If you are partial to the wet/fresh hop beers, this one is for you. The nose/aroma and the first taste you get are definitely in that wheelhouse. It is a pungent aroma from the Cashmere hops, and the lemon and lime notes from them play nicely with the slight sourness.

While this may not be the best beer Old Yale has made, it is certainly one worth trying.

Grade: 8.1/10

Want to see all the photos featured in B.C. Beer Reviews? You can see these, and even beers not featured in these articles, by following me: nhendy5. You can also add me on Untappd to see much more concise beer reviews up to 24 hours before B.C. Beer Review comes out: RedArmyNic.