Well this is interesting. For those of you who have spotted Carver’s Weiss in store but aren’t keen on reading small print, this is a weissbier from SAB. It launched a week or so ago and is already everywhere. It’s an interesting step into the speciality beer market on a large scale (much larger than Fransen Street or Newlands Spring). So what’s it like?
Well you might have already seen the rating. I must admit, I tend to be a bit harsher with breweries that have plenty of funds and access to great ingredients/top notch equipment. If a small-scale, start-up SA craft brewer had put out this beer, I would almost certainly have thrown in an extra half hop. But this is SAB, and I think they can/should do better.
It’s not a bad beer, not by any means and I applaud them brewing something other than a pale lager, not least because it opens the general beer-drinking public’s minds to different styles of beer. It’s definitely refreshing, certainly not off and you could easily disappear a few in an afternoon. But it just seems a bit of a half measure. Nose-wise, there is very little banana (esters) and a whole lot of clove (phenols). Not a bad thing – just not to my weiss taste. The carbonation is spritzy, making it a very fresh, thirst-quenching brew.
My first issue comes with the body. This is a hefeweizen, so I expect a certain weightiness – not a full bodied beer but something I can get my mouth around, if you will. Carver’s though, is too thin, too lacking in substance. But the biggest problem for me is hops. Now people tend to think that I only like a beer if it has a barrel of hops chucked in at every stage of the brew, but that’s not true. I love hoppy and bitter beers, but only when appropriate. In a weiss, hops are meant to take a back seat to yeast. But Carver’s has a noticeable and harsh bitterness. The label proudly boasts of the use of SA hops here, but I wonder if that was the best idea.
Speaking of the label, I hear that vendors around the country have been trying to send cases of Carver’s back due to a labelling fault. If you buy a bottle, you’ll notice that the back label is upside down. Don’t for a minute think that SAB has messed up – it’s a purposeful move, designed to encourage people to rouse the yeast in the bottle (I think the idea is that you want to read the label, so you hold the bottle upside down, thus ensuring that the yeast doesn’t remain in the bottom when you pour – it’s a cool idea and a nice aid to SA’s still burgeoning beer culture).
One place they did mess up though was in their marketing – at least from my point of view. I don’t know if this is an avenue they plan to pursue, but the press release I received harped on about Carver’s being a beverage “for men and women at leisure”, a beer “that will appeal to men and women alike” and best of all, “the beer – unlike any other available in South Africa – can be enjoyed by men and women alike”.
Well huzzah for there finally being a beer that I can sit and drink with my male friends. I’ve been waiting a while for this… *tosses away pink cidery drink and opens another Carver’s with husband*…
Tasted Carver’s? What do you think? And what are your thoughts on SAB venturing deeper into the speciality beer market?
Well thanks for clarifying that. There was a massive wraparound in the Sunday Times yesterday, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t mention SAB, so I was wondering where this beer suddenly appeared from.
Glad to be of service!! Interesting to hear how big the marketing campaign is. Did it mentioin that both men and women can drink it????
Oh really.
A multi sex beer….very futuristic…
Hi Lucy. I tried one on Friday night and quite enjoyed it, my experience of the bitterness was quite different. I found it quite sweet for a Weiss anyway. So more malt forward then hop forward. A totally different experience to you. That’s weird. Can’t quite explain that. Otherwise it wasn’t too bad and I would definitely try one again. Interesting to hear what others say.
Interesting indeed – I didn’t get any notable sweetness from it! Must try it again…
SAB might still have some consistency problems with this, since the bottle I tasted appeared to be quite the opposite of what you had. In fact almost entirely opposite.
I got a lot of banana and a small amount of clove, and was very happy to get a South African Weiss that didn’t have those phenols dominating absolutely everything. And my bottle wasn’t hugely carbonated and it came across as quite full bodied. Going to have to buy a few more from different stores and see how much variation they have.
Wow, this is really interesting. I had four on different days and found them all overly phenolic, dry, bitter and a bit thin!!
From the same bottle store or different bottle stores? Kept in the fridge (at the bottle store and home)? Is that yeast in the bottle still alive and eating I wonder?
I did love that upside down rear label, thought that was very clever marketing.
Haha, seems to have backfired though as vendors think they’re dud bottles! Beers were from the same six pack. Two travelled to the Garden Route with me, the ohers stayed at home in the fridge…
Er, Carvers is produced at Fransen Street Brewery
Indeed it is. But Fransen Street isn’t distributed nationwide and suddenly infiltrating every PnP and Tops in the country…
Great news that SAB is brewing a Weißbier for large distribution. That certainly adds variety in terms of different styles available besides Lager-beers.
And thanks SAB for sticking the back label up side down! That indeed is a great idea to have the people turning the bottle before opening it, in order to get a better yeast dispersion in the beer (even though the Carver looks “terribly” clear on the pic in the article); I quite often had “complaints” from our customers why we deliver our Weißbier KEGs upside down…
Prost
jan
Compared to the usual offerings of mass SAB product this is a pleasant surprise. Not as good as premium weiss of course but at the price point decent to be sure. Current TOPS special of R74.99/6 x 440ml bottle 🙂
Certainly a bit sweet and reminded me slightly of a lager at first smell and sip. Slight lemon and clove on the nose. Yeast rather minimal which might explain the higher phenolic aroma. Mouthfeel a bit thin but all round not a bad beer.
Initial perception formed before I read the inverted label 🙂
Thanks Steve. I actually just tried it again as a few people gave quite different opinions. I had the can which was certainly yeastier and had more ester notes. Still don’t love it, but I might add an extra half hop…
Which liquor stores in Cape Town sell this beer?
It’s quite widely available – I’ve seen it in Tops and PnP liquor…
I must say – the body felt way too light to me too. It was almost like drinking a ‘Castle Light’ version of a Weiss. That was my thought even before knowing it was produced by SAB. I didn’t mind the bitterness, but I would rather buy an Erdinger than a Carver and dish out the extra cash.
I think it’s great. As good as any of the overpriced craft beers. Normally one beer enough for me but with Carver’s Weiss it definitely tastes like more.
Being a former lover of Bisquit Cognac VS, I must say I’m quite impressed by the hype around Carver’s Weiss beer.I first saw its ad on GQ style magazine and I got curious about how crafted beer tasted like.Big ups to beer enthusiasts and now I know what I have been missing….A beer that offers that illusional exclusivity at an affordable price….Corona Extra…Carver’s Weiss here we come…..
Hey guys, I tried it last night and I must say…I really loved it, I thought it was impoported from Germany, it’s even greater that’s it’s SAB…
I just opened my first one a few minutes ago….this may sound harsh but I made up my mind already….I should have bought a Jack Black Atlantic Weiss instead….?
It’s certainly a polarising beer – some love it, others not so much!
Good but not good as an original Weiss beer a lot of them expired in the market Bone crusher, CBC krystal weiss and Jack Black antlatic weiss are better options
Definately Full bodied, love it