Here is our first review of a fairly new Tulsa brewery, Renaissance Brewing Company. Brewed at Dead Armadillo in Tulsa, this is hefeweizen that has spices added and is served up in a 16 oz can.

Company: Renaissance Brewing Company

Location: Tulsa, OK

ABV: 4.8%

Style/Description: German Style Hefeweizen Wheat Beer Brewed with Spices

Price: $2.50 for a 16 oz can

Appearance: Light straw colored pour, mostly translucent, with rising bubbles and a nice tight head.

Nose: Sweet bready malts, with plenty of spice in the aroma. Some bitter vegetals like coriander come through pretty heavily.

Taste: Some banana and vanilla flavor here, but it is mostly hiding behind the adjunct spices. Coriander and black pepper flavors block out most of the traditional hefe flavors, with the bitterness clashing with the sweet bready flavors of the malt. There is hints of licorice, star anise perhaps? The herbaceous notes lighten up a bit as the beer opens, but the spices really take away from the heart of the hefeweizen. The body is light and the carbonation fizzy.

Finish: Some beery grains on the palate, and finishes up with that spicy coriander flavor that dominates this brew.

Overall: An interesting choice for an early release, a spiced hefeweizen. I admire their guts, but this one missed me. A little light on mouth and body (it is only 4.8% ABV after all), which can be overcome, but the heavy spicy licorice and coriander kill it for me. Those flavors dominate all the other banana, clove and vanilla hefe flavors.

Rating: 2.0/5