I am thinking I must really be German as I am drawn to the classic hefeweisens (wheat beers) subtly flavored and crafted with care all over the world, but perfected in Germany.
“German wheat beers are called Weizen (“wheat”) in the western (Baden-Württemberg) and northern regions, and Weißbier or Weiße (“white beer” or “white”) in Bavaria. Hefeweizen (“Hefe” is German for yeast) is the name for unfiltered wheat beers, while Kristallweizen (“Kristall” is German for crystal) is the same beer filtered.
Sour ales such as Berliner Weisse, Gose, and Lambic are made with a significant proportion of wheat.
Weissbier (or Weißbier), as it is called in German, refers to several different types of wheat beer. The term Hefeweizen refers to wheat beer in its traditional, unfiltered form. The term Kristallweizen (crystal wheat), or Kristall Weißbier (crystal white beer), refers to a wheat beer that is filtered to remove the yeast from suspension. Additionally, the filtration process removes wheat proteins present in the beer which contribute to its cloudy appearance.
Weissbier is available in a number of other stronger forms including; Dunkelweizen (dark wheat), and Weizenstarkbier (strong wheat beer), commonly referred to as Weizenbock. The dark wheat varieties typically have a much higher alcohol content than their lighter cousins.
Alternate terms for Hefeweizen include: Hefeweißbier, Weißbier, Hefeweiße, Dunkelweizen, Weizenbock, or Weizenstarkbier. A Weizenbock is not necessarily considered a Hefeweizen unless it is left unfiltered.
The Hefeweizen style is particularly noted for its low hop bitterness and relatively high carbonation, considered important to balance the beer’s relatively malty sweetness.
Hefeweizen’s phenolic character has been described as “clove” and “medicinal” (“Band-aid”) but also smoky. Other more typical but less assertive ale flavour notes include “banana”, “bubble gum”, and sometimes “vanilla”.
Some prominent commercial examples of Hefeweizen are produced by Paulaner, Boston Beer Company, Erdinger, Schneider Weisse (original amber only), Franziskaner, Schweiger, Hacker-Pschorr, Ayinger (Bräu Weisse) and Weihenstephaner. The style is nowadays drunk throughout Germany, but is especially popular in its Southern German homeland.
Bavarian-style wheat beer is usually served in 500 ml, vase-shaped glasses.
Kristallweizen (especially in Austria) and American styles of wheat beer are sometimes served with a slice of lemon or orange in the glass; this is generally frowned upon in Bavaria.
In northern Bavaria, it is common to add a grain of rice to Kristallweizen, which causes a gentle bubbling effect and results in a longer lasting foam. A common item on pub menus in Bavaria is Cola-Weizen, which is a mix of cola and Weizenbier.
In different parts of Germany Bananenweizen (wheat beer with banana nectar mixed in) is very popular.”
(from Wikipedia.org)
(**Bananenweizen—I Have to try this!! It sounds like it was Made for me!!)
“WEISSBIER—AKA: Hefeweizen, Weizenbier, Weisse, Wheat Ale
Pronunciation guide for English-speakers: “vice-beer”
Definition: Weissbier means “white beer” in German. The name derives from the yellowish-white tinge that is imparted by the pale malted wheat from which the brew is made. Another common name for this brew is Weizenbier (“wheat beer”) because of the preponderance of malted wheat in the brew’s grain bill. According to German law, all beer that is labeled Weissbier or Weizenbier must be made with at least 50% malted wheat. Most Bavarian Weissbiers contain 60 to 70% malted wheat. The rest is malted barley.
A typical Weissbier/Weizenbier has a very characteristic flavor that is produced by the interplay between the Weissbier ale yeasts and the trace elements from the large portion of wheat in the brew’s grain bill. This flavor is variably described as clove-like, 
banana-like, phenolic, sour, spicy, or even bubblegum-like. Because of the complexity of the Weissbier flavor, these beers are only mildly hopped. This puts them in contrast to many blond lagers—such as the Pils/Pilsener, which are fairly strongly hopped for an assertive up-front bitterness.
For extra “spritziness,” most Weissbiers are also, what is called, bottle-conditioned or tank-conditioned. This technique involves adding fresh, unfermented beer to the finished and fully fermented beer, right before packaging the brew into kegs or bottles. At this stage, the finished beer still has plenty of live yeast cells in suspension that start a new fermentation with the added unfermented beer. In this process, the yeast converts the small amount of new sugar into additional alcohol and carbon dioxide. Because this final fermentation occurs in a hermetically sealed environment (the bottle or the keg), the new carbon dioxide cannot escape. Instead it is trapped in solution in the brew. This conditioning creates the Weissbier’s enormous effervescence. Only the filtered Kristallweizen cannot be bottle-conditioned—simply because filtration before removes all suspended yeast cells. Kristallweizens, therefore, are artificially carbonated.
A glass of Weissbier always sports an appetizing, tall, white, creamy head. A beer’s head is mostly dissolved protein that is dragged out of the brew by escaping carbonation. Because wheat has more protein than barley, and because Weissbier is made to be particularly effervescent, a Weissbier head is always particularly impressive.
Related beer styles: Kristallweizen, Dunkelweizen, Weizenbock, Weizendoppelbock, Weizeneisbock, Russ
A Noble Wheat Ale for the Common Man
Weissbier is one of the many beer styles created by Bavarian brewmasters. It was first made in the early 16th century in the Bavarian Forest (next to what is now the Czech Republic), around the same time that the first Bavarian lager styles, such as the Dunkelbier, the Märzen, and the Bockbier, began to appear, mainly in Munich. Today, just about every German brewery of note makes a Weissbier, including many breweries outside of Bavaria. There were periods throughout its almost 400-year old history, however, when Weissbier, like ale-making in general, faced an uphill fight for consumer acceptance, even in Bavaria, its land of origin. In fact, Weissbier-making, along with ale-making in general-almost came to a complete standstill in Germany in the 1870s.
This is when Carl von Linde invented beer refrigeration and installed the first functioning cooler for beer tanks in the Spaten Brewery of Munich. Before this monumental engineering breakthrough, all beers brewed in the summer months had to be made with warm- and top-fermenting yeast strains, that is, they had to be ales, because of the high ambient temperatures.
Only in the winter, when bottom- and cold-fermenting yeast strains thrived, did Bavarian brewers make nothing but lagers. With the advent of refrigeration, however, Bavarian brewers could make lagers year-round. The result was that, in the latter part of the 19th century, ale-making fell out of favor, first in Bavaria, then in the rest of Germany, then in all of Continental Europe and the world, even in the summer…and because Weissbiers are ales, they went the way of ales in general. For almost one hundred years, Weissbiers were relegated to a marginal beer style, brewed almost exclusively in Bavaria.
By the 1950s and early 1960s, the Weissbier share had fallen to below 3% of Bavarian beer production and many breweries no longer bothered with this style at all. The future of Weissbier did not look bright, except as a curiosity and a relict of the past. But a sudden—and largely inexplicable—shift in consumer taste after 1965, not only in Bavaria but in the entire world, triggered a rapid and spectacular Weissbier-Renaissance—a revival that has continued to this day! By 1994, Weissbier started to outsell even the Bavarian Helles, the traditional staple quaff in Bavaria’s legendary beer gardens. Consumer studies have since shown that Weissbier is particularly popular among young adults, both men and women, who are occupationally and physically active and consider the crisp and refreshing taste of Weissbier a fitting and indispensable part of their daily lives. In Germany overall, today Weissbier holds about 11.5% in market share. On its home turf in Bavaria it holds a market share of almost 35%, which makes it by far the most popular beer style there!
Weissbier Drinking Ritual
Because of its high degree of spritzy effervescence, Weissbier requires “special handling“ to ensure its proper enjoyment at the table or at the bar. It is best to store Weissbiers in a cool place before opening the bottle. The cool temperature prevents the beer from losing too much of its refreshing fizz when the bottle is opened. It is also best to keep the beer in a dark environment where the rays of the sun cannot reach it. This rule, incidentally, applies to all beer because sunlight is one of the greatest enemies of beer flavor. Prolonged exposure to sunlight can shorten a beer’s natural shelf-life dramatically, and even make it undrinkable.
Always store Hefeweizen standing up. This allows the yeast to settle at the bottom of the bottle. For a less yeast-turbid glass of Hefeweizen you can pour the entire bottle in one go, while leaving most of the sediment behind. If you prefer a more turbid glass of beer, you can empty the bottle 
only four-fifth of the way and then roll it flat on a horizontal surface to loosen the sediment. Then pour the intensely cloudy remaining one-fifth of the bottle in one fell swoop into your glass.
To accentuate the bouquet of the Weissbier, serve it in a tall, slender glass with plenty of room for the head—the best being a specially curved Weissbier glass. To prevent excessive foaming as you pour, rinse the glass in cold water but do not dry it. Then tilt the glass as you fill it. Also avoid greasy glasses, because they destroy a beer’s head. Though Weissbier is served with a lemon slice in many parts of the world, this is emphatically not a Bavarian custom. Bavarians believe that the lemon flavor obscures the true flavor of the Weissbier. They also believe that the Weissbier does not need assistance to taste satisfying and refreshing. On a more objective level, they also point out that the oils in the lemon juice have the same effect as a greasy glass, that is, they destroy the white creamy head that is so characteristic of a properly poured Weissbier and an indispensable part of the total Weissbier experience.”
(from the German Beer Institute, http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/weissbier.html)
So, celebrate October (Octoberfest!!) with a hefty glass of Hefeweisen!
German words for “cheers!”—
“Ein Hoch” =”One up” (multi compatible)
“Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit” =”One Prosit to the sociability” (southern expression)
“Nicht lang schnacken, Kopf in Nacken” =”Don’t talk so long, head back” respectivly “Don’t talk so much, head in neck (…in direction neck) (northern expression)
“Hau weg die Scheiße” = “hew away the sh*t” (northern expression).
“Los geht’s” = “let’s go” (multi compatible)
and “Prost” of course.
The first four-way, three-colour traffic light was created by 
