The first time I ever had Widmer’s hefe was about twenty years ago in a bar in Spokane called Ichabod’s. I couldn’t believe I was having a beer with lemon on the side; That Just Seemed Wrong. The bar has since burned down, the owner convicted of arson, I believe, just as my notions of What Seems Wrong with a beer have also changed.
Though I still oppose a fruit side, I won’t let that prevent me from enjoying a good beer.
With the move and my current supplies of homebrew rapidly dwindling, I am compelled to purchase beer and so instead of wondering why the gods kill, I instead have decided to use this opportunity to go back, check out the beers that I cut my teeth on and helped introduce me (and many others) to the world of microbrewing.
The nose is faintly skunky, a little like a lager might be. The middle isn’t thin; the wheat presence holds it together for certain and the finish is actually fairly dry, a bit like white wine. I can totally see how this may have been designed to have a lemon added, as the citrus could play off the wheat balance and then mesh with the dry finish.
Still, I can’t quite enjoy this beer. I feel like it ought to be bolder, stand firmer. I shouldn’t think: wow, I get putting a lemon in this beer!
Beer isn’t ice cream-better with additives. Beer is steak: you do it right, you can have it on its own. I guess that hasn’t really changed for me.
Verdict: not something I’ll go back to very often.
A pint for Dionysus 
Ichabod’s!: I’ve been scraping my memory for years as to the name of a downtown bar that I played with Woke Up Falling several times. The stage was in the back of a long, narrow room. Is this an accurate description of this haunt?
I don’t think so, because Ichabod’s wasn’t downtown. The Big Dipper and Mother’s were two places downtown that had shows and of those, Mother’s almost sounds like a possible.
Sounds like a description of Mothers. The stage was in a narrow room next to the bar room. The Dipper was more of one large room as I recall and more square-shaped.
Beer is steak: you do it right, you can have it on its own – great line Dan.