Cloven hefe

It looks like I've finally managed to guilt my Dad into getting some decent beer in. After complaining about his endless supply of crap lager, my latest raid on his garage produced gold in the form of Sainsbury's Bavarian Style Wheat Beer. This rich orange brew is made for the supermarket chain by the Meantime microbrewery in London.

I've no idea which particular Bavarian beer they're seeking to emulate, but this is better than any I've had, save for dark brown Schneider. The main reason is the spice: I love big clove flavours in a weiss and this has them in spades, and they come as quite a surprise after the strong banana aroma. The full body makes for a very satisfying beer, with no trace of the hollow wateriness that often ruins cheap weissbier. It would have been more satisfying if they packaged it in properly-German 500ml bottles instead of 330ml, but they come in four-packs and I'm perfectly happy to bung two into a weissbier glass at once.

The wealth of beer goodness that normally overwhelms me on my rare visits to Sainsbury's means that I'd never have picked this out on my own. Thanks Dad.