Florida Beer: Pompano Heff From 26 Degree Brewing Company

Every week, we take a look at a craft beer brewed in Florida. Follow #FloridaBeerFriday for more reviews of Sunshine State brews. Get out there and #DrinkLocal.

This week, I'm heading down to Pompano Beach to visit 26 Degree Brewing Company to sample their Pompano Heff, a wheat-oriented beer called a hefeweizen. 

It's touted as a German weissbier (meaning white beer), created using traditional German brewing techniques.

As the German Beer Institute describes, "The name derives from the yellowish-white tinge that is imparted by the pale malted wheat from which the brew is made. In North America, the brew is more commonly called Hefeweizen (literally "yeast wheat"), because it is unfiltered, meaning the yeast remains in suspension and causes the beer to look slightly turbid."

It pours with a hazy orange-yellow color with a thick and richly frothy crown of white foam. The aroma is bursting with bubblegum, like a freshly unwrapped Bazooka, with a hint of spicy banana. Where the banana really shines is in the flavor, and boy does it come out in bunches. A slightly creamy mouthfeel brings out the banana in Pompano Heff in an almost dessert-like fashion and brings everything to a slight clove-and-banana conclusion. As you can tell, this is quite the banana forward beer.

But why banana?

Well, the yeast most commonly used to ferment weissbiers produce copious amounts of the ester isoamyl acetate, the same ester that is found in bananas. Esters are basically fun groups of chemicals. Science!

Currently, the Pompano Heff can be found at the brewery taproom, located at 2600 E Atlantic Blvd, Pompano Beach.

Doug Fairall is a craft beer blogger who focuses on Florida beers and has been a homebrewer since 2010. For beer things in your Twitter feed, follow him @DougFairall and find the latest beer pics on Clean Plate's Instagram.