If you’re a fan of hefeweizen beer, then try Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen. It works great both with a meal or as a casual beer with friends.

Hefeweizen is an ancient beer that originated in Bavaria with a distinct full, yet bubbly, taste. The characteristic that separates Widmer Brothers from the other hefeweizens is its special yeast. The beer is bottled straight from its lagering tank, with no filtering. This leaves the special yeast to create extra flavor in the brew.

The flavor is even. It has a perfect blend of wheat that slowly progresses into a fizz of carbonation that will leave your tongue tingling with every sip.

Widmer Brothers has a golden cloudy color that bursts with a bittersweet aftertaste followed by a touch of lemon.

It’s the type of beer that you can swish around in your mouth before swallowing – it’s that good.

It is also reasonable in price, not costing more than something from Mirror Pond or Sierra Nevada.

Other hefeweizen beers that can’t compete are Henry Weinhard’s and Gordon Biersch. Widmer Brothers keeps it simple by not having too many flavors coming at you at once; just tasty, smooth beer.

Kurt and Rob Widmer founded Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen in 1986. Their hefeweizen has been Oregon’s top selling draft beer for the last 20 years.

It has also won the gold medal in the American Style Hefeweizen category at the Great American Beer Festival twice now, most recently in 2004. The brewery itself has also won various awards from the GABF.

The Widmer’s got the idea to create this beer when living in Germany in the 1970s. The special yeast used in their beer was taken from Germany; and has been used in Widmer’s brew ever since.

Widmer Brothers also make seven other beers, including seasonal brews which sell for a limited time, but Hefeweizen is the flagship of the brewery.

The only hefeweizen that can compare is Franziskaner, profiled in an earlier review. The upside Widmer Brothers has over Franziskaner is its availabilty throughout the nation, which continues to grow in popularity throughout the west coast.

There is no doubt that Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen is one of the best.

With that in my mind, you can’t go wrong with a Widmer Brothers. It is readily available almost anywhere and can satisfy the most amateur beer drinker to the ever-critical eccentric beer collector.

Galen Kusic can be reached at [email protected]