beer

We are introducing a new Happy Hour feature on the blog that will go up every Friday. We’ll start with a post about a recent beer review or cigar review from the site, followed by a drink recipe in the next post. There’s nothing like a drink to kick off the weekend!

Then we’ll follow that up with a song video to kick off the weekend every Friday at 5:00 PM EST. Check back soon to see our pick for the first song.

As for the beer, we’re in the middle of Spring, so this review from Mike Barkacs is a good choice to kick things off.

The Belgians do not have a monopoly on great wheat beers, even though it may seem like it when you look at the store shelves. Ayinger Brau-Weisse from the Bavarian region of Germany is one of the best wheats you’ll ever have. To me, nothing says spring like a good wheat beer, after slogging through a long, cold winter, drinking those dark and heavy beers to keep warm, or drunk enough to not care. As soon as the snow starts to melt, it’s time to celebrate with something that tastes more like warm sunlight rather than a warm fireplace.

Brau-Weisse is the perfect beer for that. Springtime in a glass. The cloudy, pale straw colored beer is topped with a dense white head that will fade to solid lacing. Like any respectable wheat beer, it is unfiltered and hazy with yeast. Be careful with the pour if that bothers you, but this is a beer that gets even better with the extra sediment. The aroma is of bananas, but more like some sort of banana flavored candy. And cloves. All the cloves promise that this isn’t going to be some sticky, sweet tasting mess.

So grab a cold one and kick off a good weekend!