The Brew Guru tastes New Glarus Crack'd Wheat, or, All hail alchemy

The Brew Guru has long told anyone who would listen that his stomping grounds is home to the best beer in the world. And while his credentials may not quite match such a sweeping assertion, Wisconsin’s brewers keep coming up with ways to make him more right with every new beer they bottle. Most impressive is the creativity and improvisation central to so many of these brews. Not only do these alchemists perfect the classic styles developed in the old world, they so aggressively tweak, push and bend them that they’re really creating new styles. The brewery that serves up today’s beer is at the forefront of that refinement and innovation. There’s no question a Swiss enclave in southern Wisconsin is home to The Brew Guru’s favorite beers.

This week’s brew: Crack’d Wheat

Style: Hefeweizen, technically and probably.

Brewed by: New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus.

Availability: Initially billed as a new addition to New Glarus’ year-round lineup, New Glarus' website now describes it as an April-to-July seasonal. It's a tier below Spotted Cow or Fat Squirrel on the easy-to-find scale, so your best bet is “finer” liquor stores. In Wisconsin.

What it’s like: Think two parts Hacker-Pschorr’s benchmark hefeweizen and one part a benchmark from our side of the pond: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

In the glass: Crack’d Wheat is a cloudy, yellowish-brown pour that’s sweetly aromatic – the familiar wheat notes of banana, clove and cinnamon are there. There’s also a little citrus nose to it, a character that explodes on the tongue thanks to dry-hopping with the lemony, orangey Amarillo hop. New Glarus brewmaster Daniel Carey bills Crack’d as “an international marriage” of a hefeweizen and an American pale ale, and it works as well as a couple celebrating its 60th anniversary. The pale ale husband does the heavy lifting on the front of the palate and the wheat wife carries the gentler characteristics: a delicate aroma and smooth, yeasty aftertaste. That smoothness and an alcohol content (5.95 percent) less than that of many hefeweizens make it easy to crack a few Crack’ds.

Backwash: You know how a hefeweizen is often garnished with a big lemon wedge? The Brew Guru doesn’t know if that unfortunate trend was the inspiration for this beer, but in hindsight it’s a beer that has been begging to be made. Take a potent, citrusy hop like Amarillo, dunk it in the beer during the brewing and dispense with the annoying (and overpowering) citrus wedges. Duh!

Bonus news you can use: The Brew Guru has recommended the New Glarus brewery tour before, and with the Careys' recently completed $20 million expansion, it’s even better now. It's a gleaming, fully functional temple to the art of making beer. Tours are available every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

3½ mugs (out of four)