SOUTHERN TIER’S AMAZING “HEAVY WEIZEN”

So this is what an imperial hefeweizen tastes like, hunh? Love it. I bought this at Spuyten Duyvil Grocery in Brooklyn, NY a couple of weeks ago, carted it home in my checked luggage, and opened it pretty quickly upon my return to San Francisco. I worried unnecessarily that shaking this thing up with my socks and jeans might detract from the taste somehow, and that it would spurt to the ceiling upon opening. Nope, what I got was an incredible tart, high-ABV (8 percent!) tasting wheat beer, so different from other American wheats and yet still so much at home as an easy-drinking beer. I’ll bet it is absolutely amazing on tap in Lakewood, NY, too, where SOUTHERN TIER BREWING are located.

It actually gave off more of an internal lemony flavor as it warmed, and it got even better than it did upon tapping. These guys actually recommend throwing a real live lemon in with it, which I think is fast becoming verboten with all right-thinking beer dorks – too reminiscent of Coronas and limes, or some gimmicky trick designed to ease the newbie into craft beer, I reckon. It actually seems sorta strange to me, given that HEAVY WEIZEN is just about perfect on its own; they’ve already got the flavor combination all figured out. Seriously, this is a new kind of beer – the big-ass hefeweizen. Trade for it, travel for it – do what you have to do! 9/10!