A Well-Stocked Beer Fridge

After our trip to the range the other day, it was time to enjoy some good beer while a delicious dinner was prepared by Colleen. Our beer fridge is kept well-stocked with a variety of beers, which doesn't make the decision any easier. It's a long-running joke here that goes something like this:

"What do you want to drink?"
"What do you have?"
"We have everything."

The "we have everything" line is a reference to hearing a waitress make the claim despite having only a full "factory beer" menu, which set up the challenge for me to prove her wrong.

"Checkered Flag" is a Hefeweizen fan, so I offered him a Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen that I knew I had in the fridge. I got Colleen's order, Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night, and headed for the basement. After the folks upstairs heard me digging through bottles for a long time, they asked "What can't you find?" "The Gordon Biersch," I replied. As I climbed the stairs, I was ribbed that apparently I didn't have everything. True, I didn't have the Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen, but I went one better, and brought up Ayinger Bräu-Weisse, an authentic German Hefeweizen. I countered the retorts with "No, but I can still fill your style request."

Yes, I know that's not the "proper" glass.

This bottle of Ayinger Bräu-Weisse from Brauerei Aying in Germany was a gift from a non-beer drinking friend. I'd actually been saving it to share with "Checkered Flag" since I knew he'd enjoy it. And enjoy it he did. Colleen and I both stole a small portion of the bottle as well. Pouring with a thick head over a cloudy body, the beer has the aroma of spice and wheat. A "thick" wheat and yeast base is suffused with banana, clove, and mild peppery spice. This is an excellent Hefeweizen. In fact, Colleen subsequently declared that we should keep this one on hand all the time. I guess I'll go beer shopping this weekend.