It’s 80 degrees, sunny and the birds are indeed chirping outside my window. My palate has changed with the season and instead of craving the complexities found in a dark, velvety stout, I seem to be drawn to the wheats and light lagers in my local store’s beer aisle.

Fortunately for me, my beer-of-the-month club agrees with me and has shipped a nice wheat, whose bottle’s adornment is, fittingly, a monkey, relaxing, just simply hanging around. So I follow suit on a lazy Saturday afternoon and swing into this brew.

My not-too-aggressive pour leaves me with a buoyant, puffing white head that fills my hefeweizen glass. It settles down, gracing the hazy, apple juice colored brew with a cap of one-finger. Its scent is a weizen-type dirty which I’ve been finding more an more in the unfiltered wheat beers I’ve sampled, but is blended with a bit of citrus to lighten into pleasantry. The flavor itself is more potently citrus, but its main quality is its refreshment. I cooled it a bit more than I typically do and the combination of the light body, the citrus and the cooler temperature makes for a spot-on choice today. It finishes light, hardly a linger of anything to speak of, but perhaps a little banana (justifying the name, I suppose), and simply cleanses my mouth.

While surely not the best wheat out there, Lakefront has done a good job, making a refreshing beer, perfect for a warm summer day.

ABV: 4.2%

Grade: B