Beer Brawl 15 Hefe-Weizen
This weeks’ Beer Brawl is an attempt to bring back summer to New Jersey. It has been raining for more days in a row then I can count. So, we’re focusing on a traditional German Beer and also a great summer session beer, Hefe-Weizen for our 15th Beer Brawl. The “Hefe” is German for yeast and “Weizen” is for wheat, meaning the yeast is still in the wheat beer giving this style of beer its characteristic hazy appearance. The yeast used in this style will typically give the beer unique banana and clove characteristics, often dry and sometime spicy or tart. They are also low alcohol (session) beers, typically ranging from 4%-5.5% abv.
With me on this podcast was Mark Jackson. The only prerequisite I have for these Beer Brawls is a love of beer. You don’t need to know anything about the beers we are drinking only a willingness to try them and voice an opinion.
As usual we have a podcast of The Beer Brawl:
or download from iTunes
On Tap Tonight:
- Erdinger Hefe Wiezen (pronounced air-dinger)
- Paulaner Hefe-Weizen natural wheat
- Schneider Weisse Hefe-Weizen
- Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier (pronounced vine – hen – sta- fanner)
- Franziskaner Hefe-Weizen (pronounced Franz-is-kahn-ner)
- Hitachino Nest Weizen
- Harpoon UFO
- Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat
Mark (left) and Peter(Right) discussing Hefe-weizens
By far our most entertaining podcast! The swilling started of pretty normally for a beer brawl. We quickly went through the 5 German beers in about 40 minutes. They were all pretty much what we expected. The best of the Germans was the Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier (say that 5 times fast!). It was a well crafted, exceptionally balanced beer. At least that was my opinion, Mark had his opinions about the beer and oh boy, when it came to the Hitachino you got to listen to his tirade! It didn’t get much better with Mark and I with the UFO, but thankfully the Flying Dog In-Heat wheat saved the day and Mark’s blood pressure.
Download the podcast and listen to all the details about these craft brews stacked up against each other.
Next week Simply Beer will be on the road with the guys from The Liquor Outlet and Wine Cellar in Boonton NJ.
WHAT!!! no Sweaty Betty??? The Bavarian Wheat beer made with the best h2o in the USA.
oHHH well….maybe next time.
Would have loved to had another quality beer in the mix. Unfortunately, boulder beer is not very common in New Jersey (aside from the Mojo Rising). Although I did have the flashback a week ago and it was fantastic.
Please send us some of your beer. We are doing porters in 2 weeks, I’d be happy to include your Planet Porter in Beer Brawl 17!
I think I saw a few from the Boulder line at Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars… Sweaty Betty included! And yes, Flashback is a fantastic brew, also available.
That my friend is what I call a line up of Beer! NICE!
The perfect follow up to a great beer brawl would be to review a couple of the beer gardens that are popping up all over the area. A trend no less. There’s even one in Jersey City http://www.zeppelinhall.com/. The selection tends to be more of the traditional and less experimental side but fun nevertheless. Lived a while in Austria and there’s nothing better than to hang out and knock back a few at a good beer garden.
Thanks for pointing out this post! Great batch of beers. Funny, I JUST had the Boulder Sweaty Betty yesterday (review soon). I found it in Whole Foods in Paramus of all places. Thought it was a little better than the Flying Dog, which was still pretty good.
Going to have to try more of these!
Wow… Whole Foods paramus has a liquor license!?!? I’ll have to check it out. The NY Whole Foods tends to have unique to eclectic selection of beers.
Yeah, and they had a decent selection as well. Just don’t make the mistake I made and go too early on a Sunday. You can’t buy any alcohol before noon!
11:55AM no, 12:01PM yes. I suppose that makes a difference somehow.