Holy Hefeweizen! Part 1 (Ayinger Brau-Weisse)

Hefeweizen. The first type of beer I decided that I enjoyed. Not sure how this came to be the case-- I think it may have been a wicked combination of peer pressure, intoxication, and youthful ignorance. I've definitely changed my tastes a little, but the style remains reliable, refreshing, and something easy to fall back on when my decision making is sub par. 

So at my weekly Puck Fair visit, I, flustered and tired, picked the Ayinger tap (always a surprise!) and it was a hefeweizen and I was like eh... until I took a sip. It's a really good beer. It smells mildly spiced and mildly fruity, with an almost perfect balance between the two. It tastes just as balanced and quite crisp. Since I talked or "intently" listened to my friend Leah almost the whole time I was drinking the beer, it was hard to focus on precisely what each flavor was. After a few half-focused attempts, I realized it was much nicer to just enjoy the beer, rather than try to analyze it.  So I can't tell you the specifics of the brew. But I can say that it was pretty damn tasty, with a light complexity that made it easy to drink, and it was really really refreshing. Go buy some. Highly recommended. 

Samurai Ale

So I'm cheating, I drank this beer on Tuesday, and I'm blogging about it a day late. Whatever. One thing that sucks about such a trick is, I don't remember every detail about the beer. I know that I liked it. I got a bottle at The Half Pint, and I picked it from their extensive list based solely on the name (and because I love blondes). As a side note, I appreciate a place that claims a hefty beer list and attempts to describe a beer. I don't understand the trend of listing beers solely by name or location. That doesn't sell me.
Anyways, the beer was cloudy, but not opaque, and crisp. And it smelled like my old roommate's rice cooker! It had a nice mildly bitter flavor, but the rice presence was strong. Actually, the more I think about it, it was like having really good basmati rice, but in much more appealing (liquid) form. Not too complex of a flavor, but soooo easy to drink.
The label amused me with its "great minds drink alike" slogan, and a design that was not very cool or inspiring. Kind of looked like what a high-school marketing class would design.

White Hawk IPA

You should know, for this and future posts, that I'm not a huge fan of IPAs. I'm not a huge fan of bitterness or light beers in general. But, in my quest to become a more knowledgeable drinker, I bought one to accompany the Trader Joe's microwavable Indian food my lazy ass planned on making for dinner. The White Hawk was eh. It started off alright, drinkable, a little citrus bit, but finished way too bitter. I made me make a weird puckering face. I'm pretty sure that's a bad indicator. It was good with the food, but I didn't really like it enough to drink it after dinner, and then I took it to my bedroom to drink while writing, and spilled it on the floor, then it got warm and now there's still half a bottle of room temperature bitter nastiness sitting at my feet. The people at BeerAdvocate seem more impressed.

Xingu

After spending many dinners at Chorizo last summer stealing sips of this, I've been craving a bottle of my own. Got a tip from someone that they carried it at the Whole Foods on Bowery, so I grabbed a single today while picking up an IPA. It's a Schwarzbier from a Brazilian brewery, imported (appropriately) by some ladies in Vermont. It's probably the only beer of this style I've ever had, so I can't compare it to much, but I enjoyed drinking it. It's got mildly roasted flavors, it's a little sweet, but it feels crisp and light. It's not overly carbonated. It's not actually overly anything, which makes it drinkable, but not an outstanding or very memorable beer. Definitely better a little warmer than fridge temp- the flavors mellow and flow better. The personal memories surrounding it probably make it taste better than it actually does, but I'd drink it again. It's kind of like eating again at that restaurant you ate at on a great first date, and the food being not as good as you remember, but you tell yourself it was, and keep going back because you're unwillingly to give up on a nice memory, until you realize the food actually isn't that good and you've wasted probably a lot of money. Bummer.