To honor 14 years of making craft beer we decided to brew a wheat wine. This unfiltered brew is made with over 50% wheat to give it a distinctly spicy character. Enjoy it now, or if you have the patience, give it some time in your cellar. When you are ready, expect to find notes of tart wheat, grapes, and honey with crisp bitterness and carbonation.
14 is one of the greatest beers I’ve ever had. It’s a shame that this will not grow into the regular rotation, being that as a wheat wine ale, it has characteristics found in no other beer. Long live 14…and its beautiful twin 14 Special Dark!
I agree with Dan. Fourteen is one of my favorite beers of all time. I hate to think that it won’t be available for consumption every year. I think we need to start a petition to make it a seasonal!
I purchased a four pack of Fourteen a few months ago; I drank two and left the other two to age in the cellar. I just came back from a liquor store where I purchased the same Fourteen Ale but “Special Dark”. I’ve read that the only difference is that you guys used a dark wheat malt? Could this be clarified? Thanks in advance!
We got some “dark” wheat incorrectly labeled as our regular wheat malt mixed in our order. So the recipe is exactly the same except for the unintended substitution.
CW
I actually prefer the 14 Special Dark over the regular 14.
I’m hoping 14 makes a return…I’m down to my last case!
14 Special Dark has aged well! It is excellent. Would love for it to make a comeback.
Cheers, Dan! Don’t know that it will return anytime soon but I am sure we’ll have more anniversary beers with which you will continue to fall in love! Sixteen is AWESOME! Get some 6/1/11 in the market and 6/4/11 at the brewery visitors center!
I justnd a case of Fourteen at a local beer store, my first one was very good. After aging it had some of the same qualities that my 2004 Quad has, although I know there are probably no similarities.
I went to a Tasting 2 weeks ago and I purchased 2 – 4 packs each of 12, 14, & 16. I enjoyed the 12 first and then the other night opened up a couple of the 14′s. I noticed at the bottom of both bottles (and then confirmed that it is in all 8 bottles) is a copper colored substance. I could call it sludge for lack of a better word but it wouldn’t really describe it properly because it’s very light and thin. I didn’t notice it until I had finished drinking the 1st one and the beer tasted wonderful! I have never seen that in Beer before. Do you know what it is?
Hi August,
The 14 specifically was an unfiltered Wheat Wine which still has yeast in
it. What you are seeing with that bottle (as with any other wheat beer) is
yeast sediment. When this was fresh (2 years ago) it was a cloudy beer.
All of the yeast has since dropped out of solution at the bottom of the
bottle. For the 14 I would actually recommend pouring part of the bottle
and then rousing the yeast (much the same as with a wheat or white beer) and
then pouring the rest into the glass. As for the 12 and 16, these are
minimally filtered beers which would have been bright when fresh but also
have a certain amount of yeast in them which drops out of solution over
time. They may either be enjoyed by rousing the particulates or by
decanting (i.e. slowly pouring so as not to rouse the yeast) whichever you
prefer.
Cheers!
Chris
Christian T. Lampe
Production Manager
Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Christian.lampe@weyerbacher.com
After extensive internet searches I picked up a few cases of 14…you guys really need to reproduce this thing, or else I’m going to end up sober!!
Just found in back of my small collection a Fourteen -SPECIAL DARK..
AM enjoying it. Shame you can’t make that mistake again..
Happy Holidays to you…
Cheers!
I Enjoyed a couple of 14′s tonight. I can’t find a date on the bottles so I assume that they came out before Weyerbacher started dating them. Is there a “Best By” date for this Brew? I have less than a case remaining and wonder if I should be Cellaring them or enjoying them while they still taste sooooooo good. Also, I wish I had some of the “Special Dark” because as a Dark Ale Lover, I’m sure that it’s awesome!!! I read that it was Brewed by mistake but I’m sure that there was no mistake about it. Cheers!!!
August,
The anniversary beers are dated for 5 years for ‘freshness’. if you like the way it tastes now…. drink ‘em now. They’ll certainly change with time… question is does it match what you look for in a beer? I have a few cellared away… as I like what some time does to a beer like this but again, it’s all about what you like.
Cheers!
Bill
I still have quite a stash of this in the cellar. Every bottle I open gets even better. Such a delicious beer.
Very cool – thanks for the feedback, Russ!