Liquid Assets: Wen-da-Hell Hefeweizen from Bearded Bee Brewing


One beer style that I’ve pretty much ignored for the longest time is the Bavarian wheat beer hefeweizen (pronounced – hay-fuh-veytssenn). Brewed to style it’s wonderful, but unfortunately, ones I’ve tried over the years have been disappointing. Giving up on the style would be easy, but a continued pursuit is more fun.

“Hefe” is German for yeast and “weizen” means wheat, so the name translates to a wheat beer with yeast. What is beautiful about this style is it’s nice and light, but with a little twist -— the presence of banana and clove flavor/aroma courtesy of the yeast. Wait — banana, in a beer? That’s the key flavor I look for in this style, and so many of the hefeweizens I’ve tried just didn’t have it. There was clove, sometimes bubblegum and vanilla, but I was looking for that elusive banana.

When looking for a beer for this article at Bearded Bee Brewing, the Wen-da-Hell Hefeweizen was highly recommended. There was apprehension based on my track record with the style, but why not give it a try? What a find! Visibly this is a hazy beer, and it’s not that way because it’s trendy. The style has been around for over 500 years, so that appearance is long established.

The beer started off with a soft banana-clove aroma, but what about the flavor? The banana flavor was beautifully present — smooth and easy to drink. This beer is definitely one to be enjoyed all year long.

Bearded Bee Brewing, located at 20 E. Campen St. in Wendell, is just a short ride and well worth the trip! The name of the brewery exemplifies the theme of the bee-centric taproom. The beer menu is all over the style charts, so there’s plenty to choose from to appeal to any palate.

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