Beer Diary #20 - Jim | The New Glarus Project, Part 2

Date: Saturday, 9 October 2010
Location: The Homestead,
Meridian Park, Indianapolis

Next beer out of the New Glarus box: Dancing Man Wheat.

This is New Glarus's hefeweizen. Hefeweizen is a style that I favor quite a bit; more often than not, I keep at least one bottle of Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier in the house. So, I was eager to try Dancing Man and write about it.

The first thing I noticed about this beer was that it was just a touch darker in color than other hefeweizens. The second thing I noticed was the ABV, which is 7.2%. This ABV is on the high end for the style; the hefeweizens I've tried fall within the 4.5 to 5.5% range. Therefore, I wondered whether I would be drinking my first boozy hefeweizen.

My first sip did not reveal Dancing Man to be boozy. In fact, it was quite crisp and citrusy, with a lemony character prevailing over the banana and spice notes that typically predominate in a hefeweizen. But after about five to six sips, the banana esters began to take over in the nose and flavor. The sweetness of the grain also asserted itself. Indeed, Dancing Man was definitely sweeter than any other hefeweizen I've had. And my weird sense of smell may have come into play here, but I detected a faint (and actually pleasant) odor of smoke in the nose that melded well with the spicy character of the beer.

Dancing Man receives high marks on RateBeer and BeerAdvocate, and I can certainly see why. In my experience, this beer is truly unique to the hefeweizen style. If you're a lover of weissbiers, you'll definitely want to give it a try.

Previously: The New Glarus Project, Part 1.