My victim this week:
Bert Grant's Mandarin Hefeweizen from Yakima, WA via Trader Joe's.

I bought it because it's relatively cheap, $4.99 for a six-pack. Unfortunately, it's not without reason. The label says, "a generous helping of cascade hops and infused with the sweet flavor of the juicy mandarin orange," which I should have realized means it's really a girl beer. That means a beer where the fruit taste masks any beer flavor thus allowing girls to drink it and claim they like beer. While useful in some instances, reference Lienenkugel's BerryWeis for you Midwesterner's, this is not an actual beer and if I'd read the fine print I'd have known better. Anything that calls itself a "malt beverage" is really another wine cooler wanna-be. On Chuckles handy scale, I'd rank this at "So long as we keep this between us" because I like wine a little more than he does.

I usually love a Hefeweizen and was hoping to get one last summer six-pack and instead got this beverage. On my personal scale, it probably ranks as a "well, since you pulled it out of your fridge, I'll drink it." I'm not sure quite where that lies in the big scheme of things but probably about a 2 out of 5. I'd call this "taking one for the team" except I probably would have bought it anyway.

At 9/06/2005 5:25 AM,  Chuckles said...

Hefeweizens can be tricky. I haven't met one yet that didn't qualify as a girl beer. Surprisingly, Widmer's Hefe is pretty popular out here. That is a Portland brew. It isn't bad, for a hefeweizen

 

At 10/08/2005 11:18 AM,  Auguste said...

This is old, so no one will ever read it, but I just have to point out that Widmer's was the first Hefeweizen to be sold in the United States.

 

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