Schneider and Sohn: Tap X 2015: Mathilda Soleil (Germany: Weizenbock: 7% ABV)
Visual: Cloudy – hazy ripe banana skin. Massive yellowed rock solid head that leaves lace. Lots of carbonation to the body.
Nose: Wheaty. Dried apricot. Cloves. banoffee pie. Coriander.
Body: Custard and apricot. Wheaty and moderate bitterness. Caramel. Raspberry pavlova. Bubblegum. Madeira oranges. Blackpool rock.
Finish: Lemon. Wheaty bitterness and hop character. Slightly clean air. Bubblegum. Malt drinks. Lemongrass. Dried apricot. Orange. Blackpool rock.
Conclusion: Schneider and Sohn seem to be slowly getting more comfortable with upping the hop levels of their beers. This ones comes in with a huge dried apricot kick over a custard styled malt load while still mixing in the wheat character and the new bitter hop style. All remarkably bright and sunny, though there is a slight malt drink touch that doesn’t quite match the other imagery.
The bright fruit is well done, though feels slightly cloying at times – Also a mix of the thicker texture and occasional higher level sweetness can interact oddly resulting in a nice but slightly sickly mandarin orange notes.
It’s a curious one, with a lot of the artificial feeling sweet notes coming out this – naturally brewed- beer can feel filled with processed sugar sweetness, especially near the end. It is bright and fresh but sugar shock sweet as well. It feels kind of like the beer equivalent of that bright bubbly friend who annoys you before your first coffee, but they are so nice it is hard to hold it against them.
A pleasant, bright experience but not particularly polished. Their hopfenweisse does take some beating on the hopped wheat beer front, and this does not manage it, but this is an interesting change.
Background: Went a bit further afield to grab this one from Corks Of Cotham. They are a bit of a hike away, but have a nice range. It is brewed with a new variety of hops that they had been growing in 2015 and is a tribute to a former head of the brewery. Schneider and Sohn have done excellent weizenbocks in the past so grabbing this was a no brainer. The pour was done in quite a hurry as shortly after I popped the lid the froth started billowing up out of the neck – resulting in just a slightly large head on this thing. Drunk while listening to Ulver: Shadows Of The Sun – that album is beautiful and makes anything near it better.
