Four days in and I’m impressed. One of the things that is always concerning is the freshness of the beers in this calendar. Since it takes so long to get all the beers, organize them, and then ship them you are often left wondering how fresh they might be. This year all the beers have had best before dates on them, and, all the best before dates are a still at least a few months out.

Yesterday’s dark lager from Finland wasn’t that bad and it was nice to move to something a little more malt rich. Today we move off in another direction and get a Rose Ginger Wheat Beer from Ticketybrew out of Manchester, or more specifically Stalybridge,  in the UK.

Ticketybrew was founded on February 14^th, 2013 during the day. That evening they brewed their first beer throughout the night. Founded by husband and wife team of Keri and Duncan. Since a young age, Duncan had been interested in acting and over time found that this wasn’t for him. Keri had been working in career that she didn’t really enjoy and wanted more flexibility to spend more time with her kids. So, they brainstormed and as beer had been a great passion of both of theirs, they decided to open a brewery.

Ticketybrew was founded on a base of commitment and love. They love to try new things and to brew different beers. They have continued to grow since their founding but are still a relatively small brewery. They brew a wide range of beers from the Rose Ginger Wheat Beer we will be trying today to a Salted Caramel Coffee Stout. Their beers try to highlight different variations on styles and unique ingredients. They also label all their bottle by hand. The beer from them today is available in bottle or cask and is bottle conditioned still containing leftover yeast sediment in the bottle.

Wheat beers are different from the German weissbier style. These beers can typically display more hop character and less yeast character than their German counterparts. Clean fermentation allows for there to be more graininess from the wheat that is complimented by the hop bitterness rather than the flavours that may be imparted by the yeast. This beer contains hops, rose water and some ginger spice as well that will certainly provide a different and interesting twist on the standard wheat beer flavours.

Historically this beer is an American craft beer variation of the German weissbier using cleaner yeast. Certain yeast strains can provide esters which impart some flavours of their own to the beer. This style would use yeast where the esters can be moderate to none. These yeasts, unlike those typically used in the German weissbier, present with no banana notes and no clove phenols but may have a slightly crisp finish.

These styles of beer can be in the same range of flavor and balance as the blonde ales but, as wheat is the primary malt ingredient, with a greater wheat malt characteristic that may present as bready, doughy, or grainy. With the variation on this style including both the use of rose water and ginger, I’m really excited to see how this one comes across.

Appearance – Hazy golden in color as I poured in the yeast sediment that was at the bottom of the bottle. It was a clear golden yellow color before pouring that in, but hey, that’s part of the fun of these beers.
Smell –  Smells of rose water, ginger, and cardamom with some hints of a sweet fruit, possibly plum.
Taste –  Tastes sweet right off the front and that rose water flavor comes through beautifully with hints of cardamom. The ginger is subtle but provides a bit of a peppery spice. The wheat malt isn’t overly noticeable but comes through on the finish.
Mouth feel – Medium body, medium carbonation. Sweet with a subtle crispness on finish.
Overall – A very delicious beer. The wheat characteristics aren’t overly noticeable but they are present and provide an overall good base for this beer. Really a showcase of the flavours of rosewater and ginger.
Do I like it? – I very much liked this beer. I felt that the use of rosewater really provided an interesting and flavorful beer. The ginger gave a nice peppery spice to it. Overall the beer really came through for me and I rather enjoyed it.