Hot on the heels of their Torpedo Extra IPA -- Sierra Nevada's first new year-round offering in over a decade -- the California brewery is doing it again, announcing the release of a second, new, year-round release launching in 2009 (which, in case you're counting, will bring the grand total of year-round releases to six).

A "polar opposite on the flavor spectrum" from the Torpedo IPA, this new selection has been branded Kellerweis Hefewizen -- "a traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen that we have been working on for a number of years." According to their press release, the product was originally developed after Sierra Nevada obtained a rare and unique yeast strain from a very small Bavarian brewery. However, it wasn't until a trip to Germany inspired the brewers to use open fermentation that the beer finally obtained the flavors they were seeking (and also inspired the name -- "keller" is German for cellar, the name breweries give to their fermentation systems).

Sierra Nevada states: "The flavor is rich with bready wheat notes and massive banana and clove... The finish is clean and crisp and the beer has a low enough ABV to be scarily session-able." Sounds like a winner to me. I am a huge wheat/white beer fan, especially those in the more drinkable spectrum. My only question would be that, as many may know, Sierra Nevada already has a wheat beer: The aptly named Sierra Nevada Wheat. Obviously wheat beers come in many different styles, and the Kellerweis Hefeweizen sounds distinctly different, but it'll be interesting to see how these co-exist. Just as the Torpedo IPA set itself apart from Sierra's long-standing Pale Ale, the Kellerweis will be tasked to do a similar job.