It may only be January 2, but it is not too early to offer some thanksgiving for the bounty the prairies provide. I had an opportunity over the holiday season to crack open a bottle of Half Pints’ Demeter’s Harvest, their new Wheat Wine. Demeter, of course, was (is??) the Greek goddess of the harvest. She oversaw the fertility of the earth, with a special affinity for grain. An apt god to honour through the production of a rare form of strong ale.

Wheat wines are essentially barley wines, but made with 50% or so malted wheat, as is the case with Demeter’s Harvest.  To add to its lusciousness (and local creed) Half Pints also added Manitoba wildflower honey to the beer. I have been eagerly awaiting this beer for weeks. I took my first available opportunity to sample it.

In my stemmed brandy-snifter glass it has a luminescent dark orange hue topped by a full white head which slowly drops into a light ring. The aroma is rich with honey, toffee, and dark fruit, accented by a citrus hop character and a touch of sharp graininess in the background.

The sip introduces with a strong honey and toffee sweetness upfront intermingling with some raisin and earthy accent. The beer sharpens in the middle, offering a graininess that reminds me of rye. The back end brings forth the hops – citrus and pine – but they never overtake the central role played by honey and malt sweetness. The linger is honey and citrus hops.

I find the alcohol very subtle, despite its 11% rating. If the body wasn’t so hefty I would mistake this for a much smaller beer. The quietness of the alcohol is one of its most endearing features. The wheat likely lightens the body a bit as well, contributing to its low key stature.

Demeter’s Harvest does not disappoint. The wheat character of the beer is less distinct than expected, coming across more like rye than my expectations of wheat. I wonder if this is due to the sheer size of the beer? If I were to nitpick I might suggest the honey is a bit too big, distracting from the cascade of other flavours found in this beer (I suspect this will mellow with aging). I am particularly pleased with the beer’s balance. Hops only play a supporting role to accent and counter the honey and malt. Thus the beer is not a hop bomb, like many American-style barley wines. And the alcohol is masterfully masked.

I think the dominant characteristic of this beer is subtlety, which is saying something for such a big beer. There are a lot of flavours and aromas to savour, but each is quiet and confident. The esters in the beer are like two polite people at a doorway, waving their hand and insisting the other proceed through first. The result is a balanced, understated beer.

As I take the final sip, I am left contemplating what a year or two in the cellar will do for this beer. It doesn’t need the aging to soften the alcohol, as it is already soft. The flavour blending that comes with time has also already been achieved. I guess the honey might drop back a bit and we will see some development of the dark fruit notes. Only time will tell, but clearly this has great cellar potential. Must put a couple more bottles on my shopping list.