If there was ever a beer with a name that served as the perfect double entendre, it has to be Flying Dog’s In Heat Wheat. Certainly, the canine connection is obvious, but at the same time the name serves as a reminder of when a tart, refreshing wheat beer might be best appreciated: in the heat. Hefeweizens are becoming increasingly popular in the United States, and it’s not hard to see why. German style Weiss beer, or hefeweizen, is a classic summer refresher, and this one is no exception.

I must admit that I was extremely surprised at how good In Heat Wheat actually is. When I cracked the bottle I was expecting, at best, something that mildly resembled a traditional Bavarian Weiss. What I got instead was one of the most authentic Hefeweizens I’ve tasted in a long time. Complex, spicy, smooth and quenching, Flying Dog In Heat Wheat more than met my expectations and made me a very happy beer drinker indeed.

This is a relatively new addition to the line of the Denver, Colorado based Flying Dog brewery. Introduced in 2001, Flying Dog In Heat Wheat has begun national distribution this year. Flying Dog beers have fairly good distribution, so chances are you can find it. It’s definitely worth looking for. In its first year it has already won an award: a Silver Medal in the Wheat Beer category of the Calgary Microbrewery Stampede. Of course, it seems these days that there are so many different beer competitions that almost any beer can win a medal, but Flying Dog In Heat Wheat is definitely deserving in this case.

Flying Dog In Heat Wheat pours to a cloudy yellow white color with a light spritzy and short-lived head formation and an impressively authentic Weissbier nose. The crackery wheat palate is smooth, tart and very quenching with lots of authentic banana and clove notes, and a hint of green apple and vanilla too. The finish is nicely balanced with more of that quenching tartness. Again, I was bowled over with this beer. It’s amazingly authentic, complex, and definitely one of the best hefeweizens produced domestically.

Does such Bavarian-inspired brew need to be paired with German food? I think not. I enjoyed mine with fried chicken, biscuits, and Cole slaw. It washed them all down quite nicely.