Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week:" Sprecher Hefe Weiss

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jul 30, 2008 6:00PM

Nights out on the town that end at sunrise are few and far between for us these days. But then, this site's editor-in-chief only has a birthday party once a year. After an evening of karaoke and cheap beer, we headed for the train looking for one more for the road. Which is how we found ourselves in the Note (1516 N. Milwaukee), of all places, at 4 a.m. ordering a Sprecher Hefe Weiss on draft ($5) as last call was announced.

Sprecher's entry into the hefeweizen category is one of the more bitter weiss beers available, at 11 IBU. This is in part to the use of Mt. Hood and Tettnanger hops. The malts used in brewing include carapils, wheat and 2-row pale. In the near cave-like darkness of the note the bright yellow color of this beer was impossible to miss. It also had an amazing smell, full of cloves, cardamom, banana and yeasty esters that did their best to break our nose, rather than tickle it. the carapils malt gave this beer a slight sourness in the back of the throat. Otherwise, the sweet flavors one expects from a hefeweizen (banana, cream, and bright citrus) are readily apparent.

We tend to overlook what the fine folks at Sprecher are doing these days. One media outlet that hasn't is Men's Journal, which named Sprecher Hefe Weiss to its list of the 25 best beers in the country (PDF). Not that we tend to agree with everything written in Men's Journal. This time though, we have to agree with them on Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week," Sprecher Hefe Weiss.