While at the grocery store this weekend, I found a bottle of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company Sunset Wheat.  It had an odd label and it is brewed in Wisconsin of all places so I wasn’t expecting much – no slight meant against Wisconsin, it is just that one doesn’t say the  name and automatically thing ‘great beer.’  I have a co-worker from the Badger State and bought the beer solely so that I could have a sip, pronounce it crap, and make fun of him/his home state in a long witty e-mail diatribe.   I poured it into a chilled pint glass Sunday evening, sniffed, swirled, sniffed again, took a precautionary taste, and then said dirty words!  I hate it when I plan to be funny and am shot down in flames.  This beer was actually good – really good.  The color is perfect for a summer beer and there are hints of citrus and cherry on the tongue.  It formed a respectable head in the glass, it was crisp and subtly dry in the mouth and the aftertaste was light and refreshing.  Shock Top Wheat WISHES it was this good!

The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company was founded and is still based in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.  It began beer production in 1867 and their beer is colloquially known as Leinies. The Sunset Wheat was introduced in 2006 and the next year they introduced Summer Shandy (wheat beer mixed with lemonade – also called an Alster Wasser or Radler in DE) as a seasonal brew – perfect on a hot summer day when you have to either go back to work of have plans that evening.  Leinenkugel also produces Leinenkugel’s Auburn Ale, Creamy Dark, Hefeweissen, Honey Weiss, their Original Pale Lager, and a 1888 recipe seasonal Bock.  Not a fan of the lager beer, but I am raring to try the Hefe, Shandy, and Honey Weiβ.

I am both very impressed by my find and somewhat sad:  I found a great beer that I will drink all summer long, BUT I don’t get to make snide, yet work appropriate remarks to the resident Cheesehead…   I will comfort my loss with multiple doses of Sunset Wheat and reapply as necessary.