1001 Beers

Beer No: 105
Page No: 572
Category: White

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse is easily one of my favorite Hefewiezens.  So it saddened me so when half way through drinking this beer and reading the Wall Street Journal, a fly landed in it and could not escape.  Such a shame to waste this beer.  My friends all told me to fish out the fly and continue drinking, but I just couldn't do it.  That being said, I still got to drink half of the beer and then went in and started on a new beer - Speakeasy Prohibition Ale - a nice amber, but nothing too special.  Easy to drink and a good representation of the style.

On a side note, I found it pretty funny that just days after BrewDog comes out with the world's strongest beer at 55% and names it "End of History," another brewery, just for fun comes out with a 60% beer and names it "Start the Future."  A fun game of one-upmanship and hilarious product naming.  However, one downside to "Start the Future" is it doesn't come bottled in roadkill...

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier by Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau (InBev)

Aroma: 6/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 16/20

Rating: 3.8 / 5.0

UPDATED: AUG 1, 2010 Rerate 7/28/2010
Not quite sure what happened with my original rating 8 years ago - maybe I had a bad bottle or something, but since then, Franziskaner has become one of my favorite Hefeweizens. The aroma has a wonderful blend of fruits, spices, yeast, and bananas while the taste is pretty much exactly what a hefe should be. Fruit, cloves, and vanilla all dominate the tasting and blend together perfectly. A truly wonderful hefe.

I’m usually a huge fan of hefeweizens, but this one seemed a bit bland. The color is the usual hazy yellow with a medium sized head. The aroma is slightly fruity and the taste as well, but overall, it seemed weak with a taste that left something to be desired. A refreshing beer, but nothing special - not a stand-out hefe.

Original Rating: 6/4/6/3/13 3.2/5.0 on 10.10.2002

Beer No: 21/1001
Page No: 585
Category: White

Well, I'm now officially over 2% of the way through the book, but I've got a long way to go (obviously).  For today's beer, we have another from my Total Wine six-pack I got yesterday, Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat.  Truth be told, I wasn't that impressed with this wheat.  It was almost overly citrus flavored without the usual spice/clove undertone and no hops anywhere to be found.  But, the main reason I suspect it's in the book is because Eric Warner, who created Flying Dog's In-Heat Wheat literally wrote the book on wheat beers.  German Wheat Beer was published back in 1992 when the style was almost unknown in the States.  Luckily, wheat beer now has a strong foothold as there's really nothing better on a hot day than a nice, mellow wheat beer (well, unless you're a hophead like me who would prefer a Ruination).

On another note, yesterday I received my new copy of Food & Wine magazine.  They had a nice article on the "100 Best New Food & Drink Experiences."  Many of the restaurants are in Paris, New York, Las Vegas, etc. and most of them are too trendy for me to even think about going to, but near the end, #88 - #90, they have "Beer Innovators" which I'll print below:

• #88.  Baird Brewing Co., Tokyo - Baird makes its fabulous signature ales with Japanese fruit like mikans (a citrus); they are on draft at its new taproom in the Harajuku district. bairdbeer.com
• #89.  Brasserie 4:20, Rome - Alex Liberati's seafood restaurant has become a beer mecca.  The draw: vintage and extreme brews from the planet's most radical producers. brasserie420.com
• #90.  Moeder Lambic, Brussels - Discriminating craft-beer importer Daniel Shelton calls this bar "the spanking-new center of the Belgian Brewing universe." moederlambic.eu

I know I would absolutely love to visit all three of the above places - Moeder Lambic especially.  Belgians and sours are my favorite, so I feel like I'd be home in this "center of the Belgian Brewing universe."

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat Hefeweizen from Flying Dog Brewery

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 5/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 10/20

Rating: 2.8 / 5.0

Had from 12 oz. bottle. Pours a hazy golden yellow with slight head which dissipates quickly. Aroma of citrus, orange, and wheat. Taste is very citrusy - lots of orange, lemon, and sweetness. Missing any hops and spices. Acceptable, easy to drink, nothing special.