Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat Hefeweizen

Appearance: Pours a clear, dull gold body with a thin, white head. Smell: Big pop of spiced bananas in the nose with a minor backing of malted wheat. Taste: Malted wheat with a strong taste of sweetened banana juice. Small pinch of clove. Drop of orange oil. Almost non-existent earthy hops and bitterness. Finishes sweet with a lingering toasted banana flavor. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Bananas a-plenty! Average at best overall.

04-Apr-08 (12-oz bottle: Purchased 18-Nov-07 for $2.39 at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA) This beer won’t get props for looking pretty in a glass. When poured, the beer is golden-yellow in color but perfectly clear. All the yeasty sediment stayed in the bottle, but you’d think the beer would show some haziness. What’s worse, the carbonation bubbles are very large, ugly and fast-moving when they break free of the glass surface and speed upward. The whitish head pours small and fully dissipates within a minute, with not even a thin ring around the edge. Obviously, there is no lacing. In the nose, the beer smells peppery and spicy first and foremost, but it’s also quite fruity and sweet-smelling yet tart: grapes, lychee, apricots. On the palate, it’s sweet and very fruity, but doesn’t display the banana esters often found in the style. The spicy entry is tempered by a moderate breadiness in the finish, and hops seems to play no role. Medium in weight, moderately carbonated. The beer’s a bit too sweet and for better drinkability, the mouthfeel needs to display more dryness. But overall, In-Heat Wheat isn’t bad and is certainly more flavorful than the typical American wheat beer.

The main flavor here is manarin oranges plus plus a bit of spicy yeast. Very smooth and drinkable on a hot day.

Bottle. Light orange gold with a small head. Aromas are sweet wheat malts with banana and spices. Flavours are sweet spiced oranges with wheat. Spitzy yeast with light citrus and bubblegum. Banana follows with more yeastiness. Not bad.

Bottle at home. This one went down really well. Nice malty, bittersweet and dry hefeweizen. Very refreshing.