As I mentioned before, Arcadia Ales of Battle Creek, Michigan focuses on English style ales. This beer however is a wheat ale, which is definitely not indigenous to England. Still, they don’t do a bad job with it.
I thought this looked a bit dark for a wheat beer. It’s a cloudy amber color, but is […]

I was out on a date to Target with the Mrs. tonight. When you have kids, trips to Target without them qualify as date nights. Sad but true. We were at the new Super Target that opened recently near our house. If you are counting, that makes two Super Walmarts, one Super Target, one regular […]

One of our stops in Michigan was in the city of Holland. We didn’t make it to New Holland Brewery in person, but we did pick up some of their wares at a local market. The first one I’ve tried is their Zoomer Wheat Ale, and I must say I was mightily impressed. This bottle-conditioned […]

What do you do in Des Moines International Airport when you have to check in two hours before your flight and it only takes 10 minutes to get your boarding pass and make it through security?  You hit the Capital City Brew Pub, serving a wide assortment of local microbrews. Err, except they were out […]

This is a cloudy, straw colored beer with a thin head and moderate carbonation. The signature taste and aroma of the hefeweizen style is banana and clove. With many hefeweizens however, I can’t find any hint of banana or clove. I don’t know if it’s just me or if they’re really not there. But I […]

Right now I’m sitting on our patio while the kids splash around in our 10′ EZ-set pool. It’s sunny and about 86 degrees out. The lovely wife is sitting next to me trying to read one of her a novel in between interruptions from the kids. I’m sipping a Leinie’s Summer Shandy, an interesting combination […]

Given the beer perfectness represented by Troegs Nugget Nectar I had high hopes for this beer. I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t wowed either. It pours a light and hazy gold color, exactly what you would expect from a wheat beer. The nose presents a pungent banana and clove aroma, however the start […]

Another winner from my new best friends in Kalamazoo. This pale wheat ale pours a golden straw color with a foamy head that takes a few minutes to dissipate to a thin covering that sticks around till the last drop. The nose is somewhat subdued for a wheat beer. Hints of citrus come through, […]

This unfiltered wheat beer pours a reddish amber color with lot of stuff floating around in it. When drinking unfiltered beers, lot of stuff floating in it is a good thing. The nose is spicy and sweet, with a slight hint of wheat. The taste is exactly what you might expect given the […]

What do blondes and beer bottles have in common? They’re both empty from the neck up.
OK, I know that’s a really lame joke and I hope I don’t get fired for being biased against the fair-haired set. I think that’s where Don Imus went wrong - if he would have made rude remarks about blondes, […]

Sorry, no picture for this one. I forgot to take one, and I’m too lazy to go get the empty bottle from the trunk of my car. This is another wheat beer offering from Leinie’s, but this has “mixed berrries” added. It pours an orangish-pink color with a white head, and has a very strong […]

First of all, I like this beer because the label has the number 312 on it. I don’t know for sure what it stands for. I thought maybe it was the address of one of the Goose Island brewpubs in Chicago, but it’s not. Then I figured out that 312 is the area code for […]

OK, as you can tell from the name, this is a wheat beer that is brewed with honey. It’s hard to tell it’s a wheat beer though. The yellow/straw color of the beer is right, but it’s very clear which indicates it’s filtered. Wheat beers traditionally are not filtered, and appear cloudy from the suspended […]

Breckenridge Brewery calls this “an ale for the summer season”. Yeah, yeah, I know we’re like a week into winter, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for a good summer beer any time of year.
Although they don’t announce it on the label, this is actually a wheat beer. It was a cloudy, pale […]

Kurt and Rob Widmer started their Portland, Oregon brewery in 1984 and started brewing their Hefeweizen in 1986. As such, it has been around longer than many American craft brews. Way back then, they studied brewing science in Düsseldorf, Germany and brought back a sample of a special yeast which they have maintained in their […]