In the Tasting Room: Funky Buddha's Floridian Hefeweizen

Friday's here, so it's time for beer.

Every Friday, so long as the creek don't rise, this beer enthusiast will take a look at a Florida beer that, hopefully, should be readily available in a local shop or on tap at your favorite bar.

There are days when I really want to travel out to some of the breweries in the area and grab a fresh pint from the source (notably, every day), but some of those days are filled with pesky things like 'errands' and 'work'. It's on those particular days that I rejoice in the simple fact that a lot of our local breweries distribute kegs for availability on draught.

That makes things a lot easier.

See also:

- Saint Arnold Beer Coming to Florida, But Not South Florida

I can get some of my favorite locally produced beers in bars ranging from single-owner dives to mid-level chains, and in basically every city, village, and town in the area.

So it's with this knowledge, and work to be done in Delray Beach, I stopped in at Delray's beer-centric gastropub Tryst to see what was on offer. I was looking for some Funky Buddha beers, and luckily there were two available: the previously reviewed Hop Gun, and the intimately named Floridian.

Floridian Hefeweizen is a German-styled wheat beer produced with an all wheat and pilsner malt profile. In other words, a marked sample of the wheat beer style.

This is a true summertime beer. Strong scents of lemon and a slight clove/herb character bring you into the beer. The taste is fairly similar, but with bananas and a bit of yeasty character added in to the lemony wallop, giving it an almost dry citrus banana bread taste - minus all that sugar. There's light body, and a carbonation to match. It finishes with a lingering and complementing acidicy.

Overall, this is a wheat that is in the lemony end of the spectrum, and as the heat and humidity tack on, it tends to refresh in the same way lemonade does. Also, a nod to Tryst for serving our Floridian in the appropriate weizen glass without a moment's hesitation.

When the world conspires against you, take solace in the knowledge that you don't have to necessarily travel all around the county to find those delicious local brews. All it takes is finding a nearby establishment that's run by locals too... and, hint, look for the 'Drink Like A Local' sticker in the window.

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