Yazoo Brewing Company - Hefeweizen

Winner of Gold and Bronze at the 2004 and 2012 Great American Beer Festivals, respectively, Yazoo’s Hefeweizen presents a hazy golden color with a good deal of white foam, as we expect for the style. Fermented with an authentic Bavarian yeast strain, it unsurprisingly offers up a true-to-style aroma profile with yeast-driven notes of clove, banana esters, and bubblegum. On the palate, look for these notes to take center stage. We get tons of herbal spice from the expressive yeast, augmented by a complementary dose of Perle hops which offer some white pepper, earth, and a wisp of tea or wood. Brewed with 70% wheat, there’s a definite tangy, wheaty backbone here, bolstered by a little acidulated malt which contributes to a dash of refreshing tartness. For pairings, it’s hard to go wrong with schnitzel or your favorite German sausages with sauerkraut and mustard. Grilled halibut steaks, chicken fingers, and pizzas make good choices, as well. Prost!

Yazoo Brewing Co.’s founder and brewer, Linus Hall, got his brewing start in a familiar fashion, purchasing a homebrewing kit from an ad in the back pages of Rolling Stone back in 1993. Linus was, as he phrased it, “a cash-poor college student living in an old farmhouse in Virginia, and brewing my own beer seemed a little less illegal than the pot-growing operation my other housemates were involved in.” We’re typing this from California; we get where he’s coming from. His homebrewing habit continued after moving with his wife Lila back to Mississippi following college, and when the couple relocated to Nashville in 1996.

Fast-forward a bit, and Yazoo Brewing Co. opened up in Nashville in October of 2003, with a keg-only lineup of staple beers like Yazoo Pale Ale, Spring Wheat, Dos Perros, and Onward Stout. They quickly established strong local support for their draft beer, and their Hefeweizen entered regular rotation after picking up a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2004, just a year after Yazoo opened.

In only six years Yazoo outgrew its initial home base, and 2010 brought the purchase of a new brewing facility (including a 40-barrel brewhouse) in The Gulch, a historic neighborhood in Nashville between Music Row and downtown. If you’re in the Nashville area, be sure to swing by Yazoo’s latest taproom location—which they just moved into a few years ago. Having outgrown their downtown Nashville spot, they recently built their own facility in Madison, Tennessee, about 15 minutes away, on a 7-acre plot nestled along on the Cumberland River. The new place has got way more parking and great views from the patio. Learn more at yazoobrew.com.