Traverse City Cherry Wheat, Atwater Brewery

Apparently it was a bad year for tart cherries in Michigan.  Unusual weather left pie and jam lovers either coughing up more for their treats or trying recipes that call for less of the fruit.  (Sundae aficionados were left unscathed.  Sweet cherries were fine.)  The area around Traverse City is the largest producer (usually) of tart cherries in the U.S. and Atwater Brewery tries to capture its spirit with today’s beer.  Wheat and fruit adjuncts have a long working relationship as just about any non-Belgian fruity beer contains the grain.  Sometimes it’s a hint, sometimes it’s the main event.  It all depends on the brewery.  Let’s pop the top on Atwater’s Traverse City Cherry Wheat (sorry it's just a brand page; today's beer isn't included in their super sweet sliding scale).

That is indeed a dark wheat beer!

The head gives off a bready feel but with something else, as if the alcohol content is going to be higher than your average wheat.  It’s not.  That’s just the tartness of the cherry variety they used, likely montmorency because that’s what you get around Traverse City.  Atwater Brewery prides itself on having imported all of its equipment from Germany as a claim to the centuries old traditions there.  American beer makers trying to piggyback on the history of Europe is often cliche as well as questionable.  But Eurobeer purists should be fair here and acknowledge that at least the wheat beer component is pretty damn close to the pragmatic mouthfeel and flavor profile of a true Bavarian Weiß Bier.  Not bad for a fifteen year old brewery in Detroit.

A lot of the reviews floating around complain of a lack of cherry flavor, but I think this stems from the tart vs. sweet argument.  Which type is better suited for beer?  Well, it comes down to what your preferences are.  If you enjoy lighter fruity beers, go with sweet for that shandy-like playfulness.  If you’re not really fruit beer person to begin with, it’s tart all the way.  Traverse City Cherry Wheat tastes less like it skimped on the red drupes and more like it used a different variety than what you know from eating as a snack.  Given that observation, it may well be a good thing they didn’t add much more as it would have just made the brew drier and tarter.  Like brewing with real coffee beans, subtlety can sometimes be necessary.