A little while ago I picked up a bottle of the collaboration beer Hopfen-Weissen between Brooklyn and Schneider. I tried it on a lark, not sure whether it would be more like a White IPA, with its pleasant blend of hop and wheat or an inadequately matched pairing of the two ingredients.

I meant to write about it right away, but it got lost in the shuffle. I do it now as a way of delaying some harder posts that I intend to write soon. Collaborations are a common thing these days, as breweries are getting together as commonly co-eds at a frat party.

This one is intended to be a mixture of cultures. An American pioneer of craft brewing with a centuries old German brewery. It has lots of potential. It is intended to be a hopped up hefeweizen. But also stronger in alcohol to make it something of a hefe-weisse bock.

It pours a deeply hazy dark gold with a decent loose head offering some good lacing and large bubbles. The aroma is classic hefe bubblegum, earthiness and soft wheat. There is also a soft earthy hop aroma. The taste upfront has a strong earthy malt sweetness and a sharp wheat character. The middle offers some weizen spicing – clove and bubblegum mostly. Then the hops moves in – sharp, floral and lingering with a bit of pine needle. It is like two beer in one. The linger puts up an odd mix of hop and weizen.

At first I hated the mixture. Something seemed wrong. But I warmed up to the beer as its level dropped in the glass. I think they did what they intended here – a culture and style bending/fusion thing. Style bending. In a way it is frustrating and unsatisfying – I don’t get enough of either quality. But it is intriguing at the same time. Kept my interest through the entire 500 ml.

So maybe that is enough. I kept me thinking as I sipped it. On the downside I don’t think I would buy it again. I continue to think that not every style is meant to be hopped up. Weizen may be one of those. I respect that some might appreciate the extra dimension a beer like this offers. Fair enough. I am just not sure it works.

I am curious what readers think. Did you like this beer, or did if fall short of your hopes? Let us know.