Review: Okanagan Spring Summer Weizen

For food, I am a picky eater, there's only so many different kinds of foods I will eat, mostly - I will not. For beer, I love all kinds of beer, I'll try any beer at least once (or twice). I love sweet beers, bitter beers, dark beers, light beers, you get the point.

Today's review is of Okanagan Spring's Summer Weizen, a new summertime on-the-patio beer. In the last few years, Okanagan Spring has changed their lineup a bit. They previously had a summer time seasonal taster pack, but that's no longer being made. It was replaced with a year round taster pack.

Okanagan Spring previously had a Hefeweizen in their old summer taster pack, which was a nice banana wheat ale. However, it is now replaced with the new Summer Weizen. Since there's an infinite amount of banana themed weizens out there, it's good to see Okanagan Spring come out with a wheat ale that's something slightly different - an apricot wheat ale (weizen).

Appearance: Pours a rich hazy orange-amber, reminiscent of a nice witbier (such as Blanche de Chambly). Actually, in fact, it's quite... apricoty! Head is thick and off-white, quickly diminishes completely.

Aroma: An apricot perfumy aroma. Not as sweet and powerful as St Ambroise's Apricot Wheat Ale, but it's quite an inviting aroma. Quite sweet, yet subtle, a bit of that standard witbier or weizen hint of spice that you come to love in beers like Blanche de Chambly or Hoegaarden.

Taste: Not as sweet as the aroma would have predicted. That being said, you a decent amount of a blend of apricot and wheat ale action in one sip. I was hoping for a SLIGHTLY sweeter beer, but many people prefer a wheat beer/witbier/weizen with only a bit of a subtle fruit flavour to it. Not as sweet as St Ambroise's Apricot Wheat Ale either. I do quite enjoy this beer as the apricot really balances well with the beer in general. A bit of a zing from the yeast, similar to a zing from a saison such as Blonde de Chambly or Half Pints' Saison de la ceinture fléchée.

Overall Thoughts: Not as sweet as I expected, but it depends on whether or not you like something sweet or not. If you just want a nice weizen/wheat beer to relax on the patio to, you will likely enjoy this. If you are looking for a very sweet tasting beer, this isn't as sweet as I expected. Overall, I quite enjoy this as this (as said before), is a great summertime beer that will go well with steak or any barbecue favourites! The aroma is nice and inviting, and certainly sweeter than their Okanagan's cousin at Unibroue's Blanche de Chambly. However, it could have had a BIT more of a bitterness zing at the back of the mouth, as that was minimal at best. The problem with Okanagan Spring's beer is that their beer is GOOD, but - quite forgettable as each of their beers is just missing that ONE thing to it.

I will buy it again, as this is something I'll be craving in summer time, especially if their free glassware is still available! Has an ABV of 5% and they recommend serving this beer at 8-10C.

Cost was approximately $12 including tax for 6-341mL bottles,and included a free glass! If you like witbiers, hefeweizens and wheat beers in general, you should at least give this a shot, if not - still, have a great summer!