Summit Hefe Weizen

Formerly brewed at Summit Brewing Company
Style: German Hefeweizen
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Serve in Weizen

Pours a typical cloudy yellow with a medium frothy head. Typical Hefe Weizen nose, grain and sour malt with a hint of herb. Flavor is right on the money! Sweet and sour with that huge wheat flavor. A little bit of a wine and citrus. This is one very drinkable beer. (On a side note, I sample all beer by the bottle or glass. I don’t spit any out and no mater how bad the beer is I drink it all. So Im giving this beer an extra point based just on the fact that I wanted another one or four.)

Excellent Weissbier. Closest I’ve seen an American brewer come to the German stylings, both in flavor and consistency. Highly recommended.

UPDATED: NOV 5, 2003 Not too bad it had the right bananna-clove feel. No bubblegum though and the slight lack of sweetness was missed. Slightly hoppy for a weizen. Good if you can get it cheep though.

Great domestic Hefe. Lighter bodied than most imports which is great if you’re active during the summer. Lemon wedge goes nicely as is the suggestion on the glass from the brewery, which gets it 5 appearence points.

12 oz. bottle from HVWS poured into a 12 oz. glass. I’ve also had about 8 pints of this at Old Chicago- this review also applies to the beer on tap, which is very similar.
Aroma: Very yeasty. Cloves also present in high amounts.
Appearance: Appropriately cloudy. 1.5" of sudsy white foam that sticks around for a long time. Mid-orange color.
Taste: Just excellent. Sweet start, with somewhat bitter finish. Flavors are more clove than banana, bananas are subtle until the beer warms, when they really flourish.
Palate: Lively, medium body.
Overall: American breweries typically struggle to do a good Hefe. This is an exception. Great bouquet of flavors, just right on the mark. Quite sessionable. Try enjoying this beer warm (around 50 F). You’ll be pleasantly surprised. 4.2 overall.

One of the more surprising beers I have tasted. Took a tour of the Summit Brewery (which I highly recommend, and at the end there is samples, and not small ones at that) and this one stood out the most. This is the kind of beer to sit out on a hot summer day with a lemon in it. Very good.

I'm with npdempse on this one. Remarkably good effort by a domestic brewer of this German style. What is key to the enjoyment of this beer, and of most good hefeweizens and weissbiers, is to pour 90% of the bottle into the glass, and with the remaining 10% still in the bottle, tip it on its side on a flat surface and roll it back and forth a few times. Then swirl the beer around and pour the remainder of the bottle, bottoms up, into the glass. What this does is ensures all of the yeast goes into the glass. This yeast is the source of the beer's rich flavor, without which it may remain a bit flat. Try it and your ratings will go up. I guarantee it.

Agree that this is VERY German in style. Note the pronounced clove taste... a German trademark. Sampled on Draft and it BEAT: 3FGumballHead, SN Summer, & Goose Island Summer. May not be as good in the bottle as on tap. Lovely on tap if you like a full-flavored German Hefe.