Anderson Valley High Rollers Wheat - It's a slow lope'n a beeson tree
Written: Jul 14 '01 (Updated Jul 21 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy drinking, refreshing, enjoyable subtle fruitiness
Cons: Lacks complexity of Germanic counterparts
The Bottom Line: Wheat beers make for excellent summer-time refreshers, and are enjoyed by drinkers of all tastes. High Rollers is a good example of a USA-wheat, fruity, light hop, crisp and refreshing.
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| andaryl's Full Review: High Rollers Wheat Beer |
Anderson Valley is one of the best breweries in California with an interesting range of ales, some of which would be ranked among the best of their kind. They are also known for the interesting naming of their brews according to a still minor existing local dialect called Boontling.
A little Boontling Explained
“High Rollers” - Residents of the town of Yorkville, the smallest town in Anderson Valley. Located 10 miles east of Boonville.
“It's a slow lope'n a beeson tree” (printed on the bottle) - Literally a comfortable pace on a horse, while sitting on a very comfortable saddle. Commonly refers to a relaxed feeling, or "a mellow ride." Mellow and comfortable are certainly a couple of words that apply to this beer.
High Rollers Wheat
There’s very little information offered at the Anderson Valley website other than to say that this is a wheat beer of 5.3% ABV.
Awards
Gold Medal: American-Style Wheat Ale - 2000 Great American Beer Festival
Silver Medal: Wheat Beer - 1996 World Beer Championships
Silver Medal: Wheat Beer - 1995 World Beer Championships
Tasting Notes
High Rollers Wheat pours out to a light golden amber color with a slight carbonation, and a thin foam that doesn’t last. It certainly is clear for a wheat beer, which is due to some filtration, and does carry something of a cidery look.
The nose is not particularly strong, with a clean malt, and a grapey, apple aroma. There’s also a little wheat evident, and a subdued flowery hop.
It’s relatively light in body for this style, verging on medium, with a spritzy carbonation. It makes for a pretty undemanding drink.
The flavors take a little time to jump out and are relatively subtle throughout. It starts out with light malt, a sweet apple and maybe lemon, with some toasty wheat in the middle. There’s a brief tangy hop in a crisp finish, but this quickly mellows out into a fruity apple aftertaste.
Verdict
This is not a particularly complex ale, with a mild fruitiness and subtle hop pretty much balancing each other out. It does work very well as a summer thirst quencher, and although it gains a little more character as it warms, certainly works better straight from the fridge.
Wheat beers are an easy style for those who want to diversify, kind of a stepping-stone from lagers to pale ales, and this is probably one of the better starting points. It’s fairly typical of USA wheat beers, somewhat less complex than their German counterparts that tend to carry more herbs and spice. At the same time, most dedicated beer fans enjoy a good wheat beer to quench their thirst in the summer months, which makes this beer a safe recommendation to drinkers of all tastes.
Food
I didn’t have mine with food, but a couple of dishes that came to mind (courtesy of Palomino) are Grilled Chicken Breast topped with an Apricot, Tomato, Ginger and Cinnamon Chutney, or a salad tossed in red wine vinaigrette and topped with candied pecans and a light cherry syrup. I could also see the lemon buttery sauce of a Chicken Picatta working very well.
Personally, I see this as an ideal “relaxation in the sun beer”, and probably wouldn’t even let a lemon wedge interrupt my enjoyment.
Recommended:
Yes
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andaryl
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