Beer of the Weekend #602: Penny Whistle

Along with the two Bell’s beers I had chillin’ in my fridge (I’ll get to the second one later) I had three beers from Coralville’s Backpocket Brewery. I intended to make one of them the beer of the month in September, but something else came up. I need to try them anyway, so let’s start now.

The beer tonight is Penny Whistle, brewed by Backpocket Brewing of Coralville, Iowa.


Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. No freshness date.

Appearance: Pours a cloudy, golden amber into a 300 ml weizen glass. The beer is very carbonated; when I popped the cap, a lot of air escaped. The pour was a little tricky because thick, eggshell-colored foam grew very quickly. I needed to pour it in stages.

Smell: It smells like a hefeweizen. It has quite a bit of zest, but it is a hefeweizen with scents of clove, apple, banana, wheat malt, and yeast. Actually, I cannot tell if it is clove or zest that is most prominent. Perhaps it is a combination of the two.

Taste: Ooo. It has a full-bodied mouthfeel and it actually tastes like a Bavarian hefeweizen, too. Clove, citrus rind, yeast, wheat malt, apple, and banana.

Drinkability: Whoa! A quality domestic wheat beer! And brewed right next door. Coralville’s tax money seems to be doing something good.

Fun facts about PW:

-Style: Hefeweizen. I can’t believe this is the first hefeweizen I have tried this summer. I basically exhausted all the good options, though. Those that are left are probably substandard domestics.

-Price: $1.79/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.

-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.

-IBU: 15.


The Quiet Man’s grade: B+.

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