Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week": Readers' Choice #4

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 27, 2007 4:00PM

It's easy to think of beer as a man's drink; after all, we do live in a patriarchal society. But with more variety in selection these days, women are increasingly drawn to the allure of malted beverages. Sure, we still find too many women (and men) watching their waistlines with bottles of diet beer in their hands. We just find it sinful. Beer is meant to be enjoyed. Diet beer doesn't taste great, nor is it less filling.

Members of the "gentler" sex were fast and direct with their opinions about their favorite beers when we placed the call for suggestions. Hyde Park resident "lybaby" can't get enough of Goose Island Demolition, which she swears is the best beer she's ever tasted. Reader Bridget Hansen made a strong case for the Romanian-brewed Drax, even insisting that although she hasn't had it in Chicago, that doesn't mean it isn't available. And we tried hard to find it, but if a brewery can't even half-ass a working website, we question if it has local distribution.

Which brings us to one Ann Flaharty, who volunteered that she was a friend of our own Amanda Dickman in an effort to facilitate her being chosen, when her beer recommendations were enough. Not content with just one recommendation, Ann suggested two beers from the same brewery. Ann said, "I've made quite an effort to find (her beers) in stores around Illinois and Indiana in recent years, to no avail." Then fate shined upon her like a crazy diamond on a recent trip to Whole Foods for the microwave set Trader Joe's. Lucky for us, we could avoid Trader Joe's and buy her beers at Sam's. We wrote Ann last week and asked her which of her recommendations would she opt for if a gun were placed to her head.

Ann recommended we buy Pyramid Breweries' Apricot Weizen. And so we did.

We don't know what it is about hot and muggy weather that draws us to wheat ales, hefe weizens and lambics. They just seem to go well together; additionally, apricots just scream "summer fruit." Pop the top off a bottle of Pyramid Apricot Weizen and the smell of apricots is almost too strong, like it's artificial. Then the beer opens up and that aroma mellows quickly.

We love the deep orange hues of this beer and the yellowish foam, which takes its sweet time to dissipate. Beneath the apricot flavor is more than a hint of wheat, to remind us that we are, indeed, drinking a hefe weizen. The finish of this beer was dry, with hints of caramel that complemented the other flavors well. Should you decide to pick up a six-pack ($7.79 at Sam's), we would advise that you not even add lemon to this beer. It'll just get in the way of all that apricot flavor.

We can't believe that June is almost over, just as we were getting on a roll with the readers' choice selections. We thank those of you who took the time to write in to us with your favorites, and promise to do this again very soon. For us, it's a great way to shake up how we write this, get some inspiration, and get to know you all a little better. And we do keep telling you that if you have suggestions for us, to write us. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll find your suggestion the subject of a story here, like Ann Flaharty's recommendation of Pyramid Apricot Weizen, Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week."