Urban Animal Beer Company's Dr. Zaius Imperial Hefeweizen

“Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” And so began the relationship between Dr. Zaius and Charlton Heston in the 1968 reality show, Planet of the Apes. Little did I know that a beer would commemorate that relationship, let alone an imperial hefeweizen.

Urban Animal Beer Company brewed this usually low ABV German wheat beer with a little more gusto: Dry hopped and with more cowbell. If you’re wondering what dry hopped means, it’s when you forget your towel and have to hop around to dry off. Or maybe it’s a sober Easter Bunny. It could also mean that hops are added to the fermentor. It’s anyone’s guess.

I think this is a great hefeweizen, with the banana and clove tastes of the normal hefeweizen (from the type of yeast that’s used in this style), but with some extra kick. There is a slight ethanol taste on the back end, but that’s the price you pay for bumping up the ABV. In home brewing, that usually happens when sugar is added to the boil to boost the fermentable sugars. Regardless, I’d have a few of these, especially as the weather starts warming up. It’s not an extremely high ABV, only 7.1% (like a standard IPA), so having a few won’t make me stumble—then again, I have an efficient liver (I’m sure the medical community would call it something else).

See my review of the brewery for more information, but long story short, I’ll be back.