Spaten-Franziskaner Hefeweissen

"Nothing so liberates the heart as when a fool awakens from his folly."

In short, I found this beer in the back of my fridge and forgot about it and randomly came across it today. This beer is really gonna hit the spot.

Franziskaner is made in a brewery in Munich; which sucks because I was there and I didn't go there because apparently I'm stupid. It's brewed in the Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu brewery. Spaten means "spade", like a shovel, and Franziskaner is some sort of German monk, like a Franciscan. So if you see Spaten, yeah that stuff is owned by the same people, and unfortunately, was later acquired by InBev, the guys who stole that rot-gut Budweiser. I mean it's not like I like Budweiser, I'm just bitter that they took it from us.

So these guys fired up their brewery in 1397 and did a buncha crap until they settled in the factory where their booze is still brewed today in 1854. They started shipping their goods to North America, my favorite America, in 1909. Their site is actually really boring. They have a timeline of historical events that is even pale in comparison to the Sosa/McGwire homerun contest of 1998; which was actually pretty exciting. They should make a beer about that! I mean Kid Rock makes beer, why can't we have one about this exhibition of strength and steroids?

So this is a really common beer. I mean they brewed over a million ounces in 2003 for the first time and it's literally everywhere. That being said it's damn fine and pretty cheap. I picked this bottle up for $3.00 for 22oz. It's better than drinking Olde English. The ABV is only 5.0% but you shouldn't mess with a beer this tasty.

So I typically put a lemon in my hefeweissens but I'll discuss this before and after lemon insertion. It already has a slight citrus scent and a mild wheat overtone. As you can see from the picture, it produces some serious foam if you pour it all "willy-nilly" but eventually it goes down, like a prom date. It has a pretty subtle yet flavorful sweet, wheat taste and has a lasting sweet taste in your mouth after swallowing.

The lemon really highlights the light taste of this beer and accentuates the citrus undertones. It's so light and refreshing, that this is an ideal beer for sitting on the porch bullshitting with a few of your close buddies like a buncha washerwomen.

This beer is a great wheat concoction. And I also like the label. It's like the friar is looking into this stein thinking, "Where the hell'd all my damn beer run off to? It was here a second ago; what the hell?" It's a common beer to find but not a common beer to find others drinking. Also, if you're sailing on a catamaran Christopher Cross-style, it's also an awesome beer to sip on!

Drinkability: 7/10

Taste: 8/10

Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 7.0/10