Truth From Fiction

What's the beer this week (ahem, last week)? Why, it's a summer classic? Hefeweizen! Specifically the Widmer Brother's brewery's Hefeweizen, which according to their own site, is the standard by which all other hefeweizen's should be judged. Beer Advocate's user reviews tells a slightly different story here, but since it's the first of it's kind to be featured on my blog, we'll start with this one.

What's a Hefeweizen, you ask? Well, one descriptions reads thusly:

A south German style of wheat beer (weissbier) made with a typical ratio of 50:50, or even higher, wheat. A yeast that produces a unique phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol. The "Hefe" prefix means "with yeast", hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance. Poured into a traditional Weizen glass, the Hefeweizen can be one sexy looking beer. Often served with a lemon wedge, to either cut the wheat or yeast edge, which many either find to be a flavorful snap ... or an insult and something that damages the beer's taste and head retention.

So basically we're talking about a pale, German wheat beer. Sounds good to me. I had one this weekend, since they were some bar's special o'the day, and I rather enjoyed it. The only other Hefe I've ever had was by my old favorite micro brew guy, so I'll have to expand my repertoire before I personally pass further judgment.

Sidenote: I also had a Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale this weekend. It was like a little chocolate-nut beer party in my mouth. Happiness for a Beer Sort of Girl, to be sure.