Summer or Winter, I love a good wheat beer.  There is more to the style than might meet the eye.  Almost immediately, many people think of Hefes when the term "wheat beer" comes up.  Well, I wouldn't want to truncate this post to that degree.  Actually, Nate wrote a very nice post about wheat beers for our Styles of Beer Series, so I don't have to go to in depth.  But there are many types of beer which to consider--mostly because they are somewhat hybrid types of beer--and I'll add a couple to what Nate had on his post.  At any rate, here are some wheats that I believe are good examples of the style. Wheat Bock/Double Bock: This is one of the wheat beers that is a great winter beer, although I will enjoy it in the heat of summer.  Wheat bocks are a very strong style of wheat beer that often uses a lager strain in addition to an ale strain and/or undergoes a lagering period.  They are thicker, stronger, and often darker than a normal wheat beer, yet they are oddly refreshing.  To me, the quintessence of the style is the classic Aventinus by Scheider and Sohn's.  The ...

Growing up, a very simple rule regarding food and mealtimes was enforced upon my siblings and I:  Eat what is placed in front of you, no if's and/or but's. That was it.  Whether we adored the cuisine or detested it, we had to eat every last bite, and had to do so with a good attitude...after all, we were blessed to have ample provisions.  My wife and I continue this practice with our children.  Harsh as it may seem, it is for the best interest of our children.  Not only does it avoid embarrassment upon themselves should they be served a less desirable dish as a guest in someone's home, they develop broader, more sophisticated palates. I not only enforce this rule upon my children, but upon myself.  I have eaten weird looking whole fish with gypsies in Croatia, canine with poor laborers in El Salvador, and plenty of my own unfortunate culinary concoctions.  The same is true for beer.  if I am a guest in someone's home, I'll drink what they serve me, given they don't first offer me a choice. While dining at my sister's apartment a couple of months ago, a friend of hers picked up that I was ...

This past Saturday's Sip with us Saturday beer was quite a classic.  For the past couple of weeks we've tried to choose beers that may be less daunting and more palatable for the beer drinker who is curious or dabbling in non macro beers.  Ayinger's Brau-Weisse is a classic Hefeweizen.  We've noted in the past that Hefeweizen can serve as a great beer to be used for beer evangelism.  I myself find the style quite palatable. Unfortunately, this review is drawing on a great deal of memory, as on Saturday I was experience the start of a cold and my sense of smell and taste was quite suppressed.  After an email from Scott (of Manland) suggested opening up our SWUS reviews to those who participate in our weekly tasting, I thought this a perfect opportunity to supplement my review.  So if you drank this beer, Email Me a review and I'll add it to this post. The Pour: My eyesight was unaffected by my cold!  This beer is a great illustration of a Hefeweizen.  The moment the beer pours into the glass an effervescent rush of carbonation surges through the hazy straw colored liquid to produce a billowy head.  It is beautiful and ...

They must have changed this thing.  Last I remember, this beer had lemongrass in it.  Now it seems to have lemon zest instead.  I distinctly remember not really caring for this ale last time I had it.  So, they have made some good changes. Of course, the Grains of Paradise are still used.  Grains of Paradise get their name from the Middle Ages when traders claimed that they were directly from Eden and must be collected while they floated downstream.  Naturally, this raised the price.  The Grains of Paradise also add the the perception of lemon (corriander) in the beer. Other qualities they impart are pepper (didn't get) and cardamom (did get).  Anyway, this beer did accomplish its job of being a refreshing summer ale. The Pour: Typical of many wheat ales, Sam Adams Summer Ale was light golden and hazy.  There was also a cloudy white and somewhat foamy head. The Nose: The lemon aromas seem to be more subtle than they used to be.  The Grains of Paradise pushed through with sweetness, as well as touches of wheat.  I also noted that there was a slightly soapy quality on the nose. The Taste: Once again, the lemon qualities were not overbearing, like ...

Fruit Lambics come in two veins.  They can either be sweet or sourish.  Many people prefer to go with the more sweet versions because they are far more palatable to them.  Let's face it, they are delicious.  It's been a while since we've reviewed a lambic, so I'm going to post several reviews in the coming weeks.  If memory serves me correctly, Pomme by Lindeman's was probably the last post (here is a link to our article about lambics in order to define what we are talking about).  I purchased this beer for $6.99 at Kahn's in Indianapolis.  As usual, the sweeter version of lambic is pretty low in alcohol; this one was 3.5% ABV. The Pour: Chapeau definitely had some raspberry colors to it, but they seemed like natural tones.  It's not quite as pink as Lindeman's Framboise.  I would say that this beer was earthy brown with red touches. There was little head retention to the beer, and it was slowly active in its carbonation. The Nose: An intensely tart raspberry aroma dominated the nose of Chapeau.  There was a distinct perception of sweetness because of the fruits and residual sugars in the beer.  It was hard to sense the ...

What an interesting name for a beer. How was it named? Drink it and you'll know. Numerous people I have known think this beer has a gumball quality in its flavor. I can't disagree, but there is more to this beer than a simple gumball taste. The Pour: GBH had a clean, very light gold body and a small and finely carbonated head. There was not the typical haze that I'm used to with many wheat beers, but I'm not too big a stickler for that. The Aroma: There was a citrusy cascasde hop and slight gumball aroma. Some wheat aromas were evident in the nose of the beer. I also noted a slight fresh strawberry touch on the nose. The Taste: A very slight sense of citrusy, gumball like hops were evident on the front of this Three Floyd's brew. Those hops faded into more of an orange type flavor by the end of the brew. Hops were evident until the dry finish of the beer. The dry grain and hops finish were not enough to compensate for the lack of malt body in the beer. I would have liked a ...

Have you ever had the experience of drinking a beer, and subsequently finding yourself at a loss for perception as to whether it was good or not? Maybe there were moments of glory and defeat during the drinking process.  Maybe you had a cold? This is the experience I had drinking Great Lakes Brewing Company's unique Grass Roots Saison Farmhouse Ale.  If you've forgotten, a Saison is a traditional Belgian farmhouse ale.  this style is difficult to mimic here in the States because authentic Saison ales feature farm fresh local ingredients.  Great Lakes brewing company took artistic liberty in tinkering with this classic style, but maintained the farm-fresh principles, incorporating locally owned and grown herbs into the recipe; namely, coriander, lemon balm, chamomile and lemon basil.  Intrigued?  So was I.  These are some atypical herbs (besides the coriander) for beer. The Pour: Grass Roots pours a hazy brassy yellow, revealing its wheat malt.  A thick, foamy head about an inch thick coats the glass and hangs around for a while.  Carbonation appears minimal.  Only a few streams of thick bubbles emerge from the bottom of my glass. The Smell: Does Great Lakes Brewing Company call this grassroots ale because it smells like grass roots?  Literally, ...

For many, simply knowing that a wheat beer is a beer made with wheat as an ingredient, is intellectually satisfying.  But anyone who has delved into the word of beer, has discovered that there is more than meets the eye to this category, and may be thirsty for more beer instruction.  For example, if one were to drink Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat, followed by Saison Dupont, a simple description of "wheat" beer would not satisfy the fast difference in smell, taste, texture, and alcohol content between these two beers.  In fact, many a beer hater have tasted a Lambic with wide eyed awe that it is even considered a beer, and affected their attitude towards the beverage and the culture. We are blessed to be living in the post-craft-brewing era of American beer history.  Prior to the early to mid 1980's wheat beers were as unknown to the American populace as foreign trade is to Cuba.  To sample a wheat beer, one had to travel abroad, namely Belgium and Germany.  But when Americans started experimenting in their kitchens, they discovered this delicious category, and many others. Simply put, wheat beers utilize wheat, unlike other beers that typically focus on barley.  That isn't to ...