giving everybody's favorite texan brewery another chance

hefeweizen is a german beer style, and the BIGGEST influence on the taste is from the yeast. the wheat does next to nothing to change the flavor.

many american hefeweizens use the name simply because they use wheat malts in the beer. wheat malts are mandatory for a hefe, of course, but so is the proper type of yeast.

there are a few good american hefeweizens, but of what i've tried they're very few and far between. oddly enough, michelob bavarian wheat is decently made, just not malty enough. but at least it uses the proper yeast and actually TASTES like a hefeweizen!

a local brewery, upland, also has a good hefeweizen.

but shiner and widmer are shams. they aren't hefeweizens, they're american wheat ales. there is nothing in the flavor profile resembling a hefeweizen.

its not that they're bad beers (though its true i DONT like them) its that they're misrepresented.

 

i think i might have tried this a couple years ago, but i dont remember.

 

they're not misrepresented. they are sold as "american style" hefeweizen. i don't have a problem with that. true, they are definitely not a proper german hefe, but some of them are decent and i don't think you should write them off as crap just because they're not a true hefe.

 

i dont, i write them off as crap because they are bland. but i've never seen a single beer labelled as an "american style hefeweizen"




its not that german hefeweizens are inherently better. americans can make proper hefes. but if its german and labelled "hefeweizen" then you know what you're getting. if its american and labelled as such, it may or may not be a hefeweizen.

if i find an american wheat ale which tastes good despite being misnamed, then i will enjoy it, drink it, purchase it. but in my experience, this is an exception to the norm.

 

I think Magic Hat's "Circus Boy" is a rather decent American hefe.

I am not a big fan of American hefes, though. Nothing beats Weihenstephaner.

 

i've been meaning to try that, actually. the only reason i haven't yet is the only magic hat i've tried is magic hat #9, which is pretty gross. but i really do want to try their other beers.

weihenstephaner is damn good, but personal favorites have always been paulaner and hacker-pschorr

 

yeah, i'm not a huge fan of american hefes, either. they're too damn sickly sweet, for the most part.

i guess i was thinking of the pyramid hefe, which says on the bottle that it's american-style hefe. but yeah, i just went to widmer's site and it does seem like they're trying to say it's a legit hefe. whatever, widmer is generally crap anyway. i tried their w'09 and it was aweful. broken halo ipa is decent, though.

 

i'll give pyramid and circus boy a chance next time the opportunity presents itself :cheers2:

 

i've had magic hat's IPA. which i think is probably not a proper IPA, but it was pretty good.

 

you might not want to do that. I just couldn't bear to face your disapproval.

 

that's the spirit! at the very least they'll give you a nice buzz.

 

magic hat is a cool brewery - nice that it was pretty much right down the highway from school too...same with Long Trail

 

haha, no need to sound surprised.

i mean, like i said i dont have anything against american hefeweizens, or american beers. i just dont like breweries calling their products something that they arent :cheers2:

 

i'll toast to that.:hat:

 

bah, this shiner isn't getting better as i drink more.......yet....time for number four in a minute

 

drinking shiner out of a can was kinda the turning point for me.

 

blegh!

i decided a scotch on the rocks instead of another beer haha