Review: Nonsuch Wheat Wine (2025 Vintage)

Un grand merci de Ty from Nonsuch Brewing for doing a special delivery all the way to Brandon for my friends and I, we really appreciate it! A few weeks before Christmas Nonsuch announced they were launching a few new beers right in time for the festive season - Belgian Spice Ale, Barley Wine, Wheat Wine, and a 2025 vintage of their La Saison. Today's sampling is their Wheat Wine, which will be the very first Manitoban-made Wheat Wine I've seen in close to fifteen years. I haven't been this excited about beer in Manitoba for a while.. here we go!

From the label: Barrel-aged in oak grape Brandy barrels for over 12 months, this big, bold ale is lightly sweet with floral, cracker & bread notes followed by a touch of caramel & oak balanced by Amarillo hop bitterness - Cheers! 8.2% ABV 2025 Vintage

Appearance: Deep, copper-cherry with an opaque body to it, the head is quite beige with a decent amount of head to it. The head diminishes after a moment or so but there's still a good amount of bubbles on top. So far, the beer is making me think I might be sampling the Framboise I reviewed last month, but I know it's not. 

Aroma: Moderately sweet with a definite oaky/grapy/Brandy with notes of red wine, apricot, apple, pear, and much more tart than I was expecting - so far. It's decently sweet with notes of caramel, plum, bit of brown sugar, and finally brown bread at the end.

Taste: The aroma was showing to be quite more tart/sour than I was hoping to, but for the tasting notes I'm finding it more subdued. The first thing I get is a sweet caramel presence, a bit of crackers, a tad floral/bitter hoppiness here and there. There's a light sharpness of the barrel popping out that gives out a bit of Brandy, Red Wine and oak presence at the end. 

Overall Thoughts: When I was getting the moderate yet sharp notes of the barrel up front that gives off a bit of tartness, I was worried this was going to be a good deal sour. This is a decently sweet Wheat Wine with caramel, plum, crackers - though it does have a tad bit of tartness at the end but it doesn't deter me from wanting to drink the whole bottle. Those who like Nonsuch's sour-forward beers and those who like the more hard-to-find "treat yo self" kinds of beers will both enjoy this. I was initially expecting it to be sweeter when I was reminiscing of Wheat Wines I reviewed 13+ years ago, but this is a nice Manitoba winter sipper. Save a couple bottles and age them for Christmas Eve 2026 or 2027