Harpoon's UFO

has anyone tried this beer?

the first time I had it was last summer and I thought it was a great wheat beer. I've tried several others since like bluemoon and shiner and Harpoon's is by far the best Hefeweizen I've ever had.

just thought I'd past this along since there has been no mention of it on the board.

http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/beers/ufo/index.htm

I actually didn't like it that much, I think because I've been drinking lots of German hefe's lately. I also may have grabbed an older batch that wasn't that fresh. I've been getting away from American wheats lately, and I've only had a few American hefe's that I really went for.

Baron von BeeGee said:

I actually didn't like it that much, I think because I've been drinking lots of German hefe's lately. I also may have grabbed an older batch that wasn't that fresh. I've been getting away from American wheats lately, and I've only had a few American hefe's that I really went for.

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beegee, i've only tried one german hefe. I don't remember the name only that it started with a W and was a dunkel.

do you recommend any german hefes?

Sounds like you tried a Weihenstephan, which comes in kristal, hefe, and dunkel (excuse my spelling). The hefe and dunkel are both good to me...I recently brewed a clone of the hefe. The Schneider, Paulaner, and Franziskaner hefe's are all good, as well. Beyond that, I don't see that many around here.

I also like the Schneider Aventinus which is a Weizenbock (dunkel of dopplebock strength, ~7-8%). I brewed a clone of that last weekend, but it's too early to say how it came out.

As far as an american brewer brewing Hefe, I agree UFO is one of the better made American products on the market.
However!
UFO certainly does not hold a candle to any of the true German Hefe's. They are still by far a superior product. complete with the optional lemon, albeit sometimes it is difficult to find a FRESH one.

One of the better American hefe's I've had was from Atlanta, but I can't remember if it was Sweetwater or Peachtree, or some other micro. Had it at the Brewgrass festival in Asheville. Otherwise, I never see their products around here.

I've had it. It was actually the first wheat beer besides Blue Moon that I'd ever tried. I liked it quite a lot and went on to try more German examples. I think it holds up pretty well to the ones I've tried. But, research has been kind of limited.

I like it...I believe the one I'm thinking about is actually Atlanta Brewing Co's Red Brick Summer Ale, brewed as a traditional hefeweizen. Seems to lean more towards bananas, but I liked it.

Baron von BeeGee said:

Sounds like you tried a Weihenstephan, which comes in kristal, hefe, and dunkel (excuse my spelling). The hefe and dunkel are both good to me...I recently brewed a clone of the hefe. The Schneider, Paulaner, and Franziskaner hefe's are all good, as well. Beyond that, I don't see that many around here.

I also like the Schneider Aventinus which is a Weizenbock (dunkel of dopplebock strength, ~7-8%). I brewed a clone of that last weekend, but it's too early to say how it came out.

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Yeah, that sounds like the one I tried. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have to pick up one of each this weekend at the lhbs.

Baron von BeeGee said:

Sounds like you tried a Weihenstephan, which comes in kristal, hefe, and dunkel (excuse my spelling). The hefe and dunkel are both good to me...I recently brewed a clone of the hefe. The Schneider, Paulaner, and Franziskaner hefe's are all good, as well. Beyond that, I don't see that many around here.

I also like the Schneider Aventinus which is a Weizenbock (dunkel of dopplebock strength, ~7-8%). I brewed a clone of that last weekend, but it's too early to say how it came out.

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Baron,

Do you have a good recipe for the Weihnstephan Hefe. That was what I wanted to do for my next batch.

Brewby said:

Baron,

Do you have a good recipe for the Weihnstephan Hefe. That was what I wanted to do for my next batch.

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AG or extract?

Actually, it doesn't matter. Here you go:

5.5g, OG 1054, SRM 3.5, IBU 12.5
5.5# Pilsener malt
5.5# wheat malt
0.5# rice hulls

Mash at 152F

Add 3.7 HBU Hallertau for 60 minutes

Ferment with Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan yeast.

For an extract version replace the grains and rice hulls with 6.6# of wheat dme. If you are not doing a full boil increase the hops by ~18-20%.

Mine has been in the bottle for 2.5weeks, so I'm still evaluating it to see if something needs tweaking.