Honey Weiss is now a teenager

Lauren Buelow Cunningham |

This year marks the 15th anniversary of Leinenkugel's most famous cash cow, and by cash cow I mean beer: Honey Weiss. The beer that launched a thousand bright yellow canoes was commemorated at the 7th Annual Leinie Lodge Family Reunion last weekend.

With just a dash of "real Wisconsin honey," Honey Weiss tastes sweet, while still being heavy enough to avoid one's manliness being called in to question (as one might with, say, a “Summer Shandy.”)

While it all started with what we now know as Leinie's Original, Honey Weiss is the more appealing and successful younger sibling. It’s the Charlie Sheen to Original's Emilio Estevez if Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez were beers.

It's also the most widespread of the Leinie's line up. When you stop for gas outside Omaha, Neb. and you wander past the beer cooler on the way to the restroom, if you find some Leinie's, odds are, it's Honey Weiss.

In my experience, Honey Weiss is the crowd-pleaser, the old standard, the compromise of Leinie's spectrum of flavors.