Chocolate Wheat – Badger State Brewing

Badger State Brewing, Green Bay’s newest brewery is in the process of brewing a few test batches on their pilot system to expand their lineup a bit and branch out into beers that defy the traditional style definitions. One such beer is the chocolate wheat, a new beer that Brewmaster Sam Yanda is working to perfect. With craft breweries ever in the process of pushing traditional style guidelines I suppose it was only a matter of time for chocolate wheat beers to make their way onto the scene. Since this is still an experimental brew, there may be a few changes to the recipe before it gets brewed on the new, 15 barrel system, but here are my notes.

They Say:

According to Brewmaster Sam Yanda: Chocolate Wheat is a straight forward wheat recipe w/ chocolate malt and cocoa powder added. The mash temp is lower to give it a light body, than say a porter or stout. Real easy drinking dark beer.

I Say:

Chocolate Wheat pours a deep, dark black with a moderately thick almost mousse-like dark tan head that holds excellent retention (although notice the radically different head formation in each of the three glasses…Yes, glass shape does matter) . It has the look more of a stout served under nitrogen than a wheat beer with the addition of chocolate malts, the kicker being that it was poured out of a growler 3 days after it was filled. The aroma has subtle notes of roasted barley on the front end with a hint of coffee and earthy cocoa nibs. The earthiness transitions to a subtle smokiness and then a rich, full cocoa powder note on the back end with just a hint of vanilla. The aroma rising off the glass was vaguely reminiscent of a high end hot chocolate.

Enjoying the first sip, I am greeted by an extremely smooth concoction with very strong up from notes of milk chocolate with a slight hint of roasted barley. The subtle barley notes lead the transition to a deep full, dark chocolate flavor, like an 80% chocolate truffle. There is the slightest note of astringency, perhaps from the cocoa nibs. The beer dries on the back end with a long lingering dark chocolate finish. Chocolate wheat is medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation.

The chocolate wheat test batch from Badger State Brewing is pretty amazing beer. The combination of the chocolate malt and cocoa nibs with a wheat beer base works surprisingly well.

That’s all for tonight, I will get another review up next week! Have a great weekend and Happy Drinking!