New Glarus Dancing Man Wheat Review

Name: New Glarus Dancing Man Wheat
Style: Hefeweizen
ABV: 7.2%

The hefeweizen-style beer was one of the first styles I tried out when I first got into craft beer. Since the beer which got me into the style, Summit Hefeweizen, has (sadly) been out of production for almost 2 years, I decided to opt for the next best "local" option: New Glarus Dancing Man Wheat, the brewery's very own Hefeweizen style ale with an ABV of 7.2%.

Back in 1995, while I was in my 2nd Grade class watching The Lion King and learning about Kenya, New Glarus Brewing released their first wheat beer. Then starting in 2007, they unleashed Dancing Man Wheat, which has been a staple of New Glarus' Summer Seasonals for the past few years.

Dancing Man pours a fairly hazy yellow with a fairly high amount of carbonation and a filmy head with bits of lacing along the sides of the glass.

The aroma starts out with strong wheat, banana and clove notes, with a pale malt backbone to round it out. The flavor is a bit sweeter with wheat, pale-pilsner malts, bubblegum, bananas and cloves. The body is fairly lightweight and some crisp, moderate carbonation.

Dancing Man reminded me alot of Summit Hefeweizen, which I still consider to be the best example of the hefeweizen style overall....that's a good thing! Now is it as good as Summit's? No, but it comes pretty damn close! The flavor is pretty robust, well balanced and not to mention tasty! Summer is about to enter the home stretch so pick this up while you still can!

New Glarus Dancing Man Wheat - 9/10