About a week ago, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. introduced a new brew to their already stellar line up. Sierra Nevada Kellerweis will hit the public by summer 2009. Branded the newest addition to Sierra Nevada’s year-round brews, Kellerweis is a light and refreshing, yet complex, hefeweizen brewed from a Bavarian yeast that was previously unknown to us in the US.

After touring Bavarian breweries for inspiration on how to better their new brew, the Sierra Nevada crew learned that sometimes oldie-but-goodie methods work best, finding that traditionally, hefeweizens are brewed using shallow open fermentation, instead of sealed stainless steel tanks, like most modern beers crafted in the US.

Open fermentation allows for more complex flavor and aroma, so the brewmaster decided to give it a shot. The results were what Sierra Nevada was looking for in a hefeweizen. So much so, that its name is an homage to the German Keller, meaning cellar—the name breweries give to their fermentation systems, and weis, or weiss—the German name for "white" or wheat beer, hazy with suspended yeast.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis is reported by the brewers as having hints of fruit flavors and spices, including ripe banana and clove, and pours a hazy golden color with a velvety texture. Definitely a new hefeweizen we should be looking out for.

TAGS [ BEER RELEASES | SIERRA NEVADA | SIERRA NEVADA KELLERWEIS | HEFEWEIZEN | SIERRA NEVADA HEFEWEIZEN | BEER REVIEW ]