Mission Street Hefeweizen

Now that I’ve sampled a lot of the Trader Joe’s beers I’m realizing that almost every beer is a "craftier" version of a macro brew already on the market - or at least that’s how it seems to me (I mean, I can’t prove they’re intended to be clones). If that’s the case then I’m betting Mission Street Hefeweizen is their take on a Shock Top or Blue Moon. An American take on the German hefeweizen with a noticeable amount of orange flavoring added. Not bad at all, but very one dimensional.

3.1

   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 6/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 13/20

Chad9976 (719) - Albany, New York, USA - AUG 28, 2012

I poured a 22oz bomber into a wheat beer glass.

Appearance: Bright orange/maize hue; extremely hazy but translucent. Initially forms a large, white, soapy head, but it evaporates quickly and completely.

Smell: Generic wheat beer scent with an orangepeel overtone. A hint of spice and some candy-like scents.

Taste: I’m not sure if Mission Street Hefeweizen is brewed with authentic Bavarian yeast. It does taste a little more authentic than the "American Pale Wheat Ale" brews, but is still lacking a lot of distinct German characteristics like banana and clove flavor. There’s a mélange of spice up front, but it’s very mild. It’s hard to name any individual ingredients, though this might be due to the fact the bottle was over three months old when I bought it and almost four months old when I drank it.

There’s a candy-like sweetness through the middle, akin to a mouthful of Runts or Mike & Ike’s. Banana is subtle, but an orange flavor is prominent - so much so it almost seems artificial. There’s a very short, faint, sour twang right before it finishes and the aftertaste is a bit honey-like. It’s more of a strange palate than a bad one. For a craft beer it’s definitely not typical of the style, which leads me to believe it’s attempting to ape those two macro orange-flavored wheats.

Drinkability: For a fairly small beer, Mission Street Hefeweizen feels a bit big for its size. The mouthfeel is thick and the body is almost completely tepid, but this enables it to go down smooth. There’s a dry, pasty aftertaste, though, which is tolerable. At only 4.7% ABV anyone could drink an entire bottle themselves without any problem.

Grade: 5/10