May Beer Review...Introducing my brother, Dennis

This is my brother Dennis:



Dennis likes beer.


He likes beer so much that he has decided to write a monthly beer review. He has been posting on his facebook page, but he has given me exclusive rights to include this month's review in my blog. Enjoy!


In heat drink wheat! May beer review of Flying Dog in-heat wheat hefe-weizen ale.


Okay so I'm usually pretty good about my promises. Last month I promised you that I would be reviewing a trappist ale...Well, This month I did drink a nice trappist monk style ale called Omegang. I truely enjoyed it..every drop. Unfortunately with it's ABV of 8.4 large bottle size and the mood I was in while drinking it I had a little trouble in the writing department. I have still kept my promise a few months ago about laying off of my reviews of IPAs. This month I feel we need to ring in Spring with what used to be one of my favorite styles of Beer that I regularly ordered when I lived in Germany. Ladies and Gentlemen the Hefe-weizen...Beyond being another example of the exception to "i" before "e" except after "c", hefe-weizen is a nice spring/summer drinking beer.

FLYING DOG BREWERY'S "In-heat Wheat Hefe-weizen. Denver, CO

POUR: Like a hefeweizen should pour. Nice thickish beer with a suitable airy head... As the hefe is poured in a nice cloud of yeast fills the glass in beautiful swirls.

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A NOT SO SHORT, but important, sidebar about pouring Hefeweizen: _____________________________________

Hefeweizen is not served on Draught in Germany. It is strictly a bottle beer. There is a reasoning behind this. "Hefe" means "yeast" in German and is added as a top-fermentation to the beer. This yeast will settle to the bottom of the bottle and is supposed to be poured into the beer last when it is poured to glass. This is accomplished by leaving just a little beer in the bottle and setting it on it's side for a moment and rolling the bottle back and forth. You can also swirl the beer around in the bottle and to get all the yeast you can. This yeast is then poured at last into the beer where it will fall down through the beer and cause a secondary chemical reaction in the beer that creates a unique flavor. This seemingly long ritual for pouring this kind of beer is worth it and can't really be accomplished when served from a keg. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to try and swirl the yeast out of the keg. The best glass to use with this kind of beer is also a tall bulbous weizen glass. This is a requirement in Germany, but usually only a lucky happenstance here in the Unites States. A tulip shaped challice style glass will do in a pinch for taking in this ale's aromas as well but I still prefer the weizen glasses.

As if that wasn't enough...a little more about the glass (thank you Wikipedia)

A wheat beer glass is a glass that is used to serve wheat beer, known also as Weizenbier/Weissbier or Weißbier. The German glass generally holds 0.5 litres with room for foam or "head". It is much taller than a pint glass, and is considerably wider at the top than at the base, with a slight hourglass taper toward the bottom. This design purportedly allows greater production of foam, as well as increased exposure to air when the glass is tilted back. In other countries such as Belgium, the glass may be 0.25 litres or 0.33 litres.Because of its unique shape, extra care must be taken when pouring a beer into a wheat beer glass to produce the desired head volume. The traditional method of pouring Weißbier is to first rinse the glass with cold water, then, without drying the glass, hold the bottle and glass almost horizontally while slowly pouring the beer. When the level of the beer touches the lip of the bottle, slowly begin to bring the glass upright. When there is less than one inch (or a few centimeters) of beer left in the bottle, swirl the bottle vigorously to pick up the sediment and create foam, which is poured on top.[1] If done correctly, the foam should just crest the lip of the glass without pouring over.Another method is to open the bottle and put the glass over it. Then turn both. Take the bottle out of the glass slowly while the beer moves from the bottle to the glass. This must be done very slowly, without fast movements.Due to the top-heavy weight distribution and relatively thin glass, care must also be taken when touching glasses while toasting; one should touch the thicker bases of the glasses instead. Most wheat beer glasses have a relatively large surface area in proportion to their volume, which causes them to warm quicker than steins or pilsner glasses.

RESUMING MY REVIEW...

ABV: 4.7

COLOR:Amber and cloudy

NOSE: Yeasty and rounded with orangey citrus hints.

1st IMPRESSION: I am propelled in my memory to springtime in Stuttgart! Heavenly smooth and authentic flavor of wheat and yeast.

2nd IMPRESSION:thick and creamy with orange and clove flavors dancing about on my palate. There is a warmth and almost comfort that comes from drinking this ale.

MUSINGS: I am very happy with this ale. It is the most authentic hefeweizen I have had in long time that was domestically brewed. The one critical point I have for this beer is the same as I have for most beers in the United States and that is that it comes to us in a 12 oz bottle. German beer bottles are bigger and you don't fill the .5 liter glass nearly as well as you can with the German bottles. I guess I will just have to drink two of them.

PAIRING: breaded chicken or veal with a nice stocky white sauce over spetzle (a german dumpling that reminds me more of noodles than dumplings) perhaps some julienned green beans and carrots. Grilled chicken or even trout would be nice with this ale too.

Next month's beer I will be trying again at the trappist style ale. (but no promises)