11 Beers to Drink and Enjoy for the Brewski Newbie

ELMAU, GERMANY – JUNE 7: President Barack Obama drinks wheat beer with locals dressed in traditional Bavarian folk dress before the two leaders were scheduled to continue to the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau on June 7, 2015. (Photo by Goran Gajanin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

11.) Wheat beers

Wheat beers are the easy-going friends of the beer world. They can come in a few different guises, including witbier, weissbier, gose, and lambic. All are generally easy to drink, thanks to fermentation by-products like esters. Esters are chemical compounds that typically give off a fruity flavor. Isoamyl acetate often smells and tastes like bananas, while other compounds give off clove-like tastes or even a smoky smell. As the name suggests, the malt is largely made up of wheat grain.

Wheat beers typically sit around 15 IBUs, which is very low compared to other styles. While brewers might use some hops when creating a wheat beer, the presence of hops aroma and taste is usually very low. Some wheat beers are unfiltered, giving them a cloudy appearance.

Lambics, a kind of wheat beer, are especially cool. While most brewers use a dependable chunk of brewer’s yeast in their recipes, the adventurous lambic-brewers rely on wild yeast to get their brew started. This is how researchers think the earliest brewers began concocting their brews thousands of years ago. This gives lambics a dry, cidery sort of flavor, usually with a sour aftertaste.

Goses are also pretty tart and often use a touch of salt – a very unusual flavor for most beers. Brewers also use coriander, another weird ingredient that can work under the right circumstances. Gose beers are also sour, thanks to a good dose of lactobacillus bacteria in the brewing tanks.

Wheat beers to try:

• Avery Brewing, El Gose
• Bell’s Brewery, Oberon Ale
• Allagash Brewing Company, White