It has been a while since we had a white Christmas: 1965, if I recall correctly, when snow fell on parts of Otago and Southland on Christmas Day.
But why wait for the weather gods?The hot lazy days of Christmas are a good time to open a white beer made from a good dollop (usually between 40% and 60%) of wheat instead of all barley.
Belgian wheat beer is called witbier and German weissbier (both meaning white beer) and are so-called because the yeast and wheat proteins left in the beer produce a white haze when it is chilled.
Other key descriptions on bottle labels are: weizen (German for wheat); hefe (yeast), signifying that it is unfiltered; kristall (clear), signifying it is filtered; dunkel (dark).
The unfiltered types are usually bottle-conditioned: the bubbles are produced in the bottle from a second fermentation (like Champagne).
They are richer and more effervescent than filtered beers and produce a lovely head - big and long-lasting.
Take care when pouring! Chilling to 3degC, and rinsing the glass with water first, helps.
Filtered ones, like most beers, have the carbon dioxide applied during bottling and often feel quite flat in comparison.
Some wheat beers can be relatively bland, with just a hint of vanilla, but nevertheless are dry and refreshing.
Belgian styles are usually infused with equally refreshing orange and coriander.
Others have an aroma and taste of bananas and bubble gum.
The most widely available wheat beers are Mac's Great White (5%), with a hint of coriander, and the 4.9% Belgian-made Hoegaarden (pronounced hu-garden) with more noticeable orange and coriander.
The German-imported Erdinger Weissbier (5.3%) is rich and slightly fruity and available only on tap (Alibi, Cableways Tavern, Filadelfio's in Dunedin; Pig and Whistle, Guilty and The Bathhouse in Queenstown, The Tap in Arrowtown).
Dunedin brewer Green Man has a filtered version, Krystal Wheat (5%) with subtle banana and clove flavours.
Fellow city brewer Emerson's latest release of Weissbier (5%) has lost much of its traditional banana and bubble-gum flavours and is drier and therefore more refreshing on a hot day.
Christchurch brewer Harrington's has gone the other way with its Weiss Bier (5%) which this summer has hints of banana and gum.
It also pours a drier filtered wheat beer at its city taverns.
If you are in that city on holiday, there is also Three Boys brewery's wheat beer or, in Blenheim, Moa brewery's Blanc.
When thinking of beer as a Chrissie present, but you are not sure what the intended recipient prefers or even likes in a beer, try wheat beer, because folk who are not partial to malt or hop usually like this variety.
Alternative brewed presents are a two-bottle/two-branded glass pack ($28) from Green Man's Grange St brewery, or look in liquor outlets for a brown carton (instead of the usual white) of Stella Artois which has a to/from label printed on it.
Beery Christmas, and a hoppy New Year!
