Metolius Hare's Ear Hefeweizen

It's brewed by Pyramid/Portland Brewing for Albertsons only AFAIK. Most of the other Metolius beers are bland, too.

You just haven't been fortunate enough to try the right ones.

For instance: Diamond Knot Hefeweizen, Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen, any of the Ramstein wheat beers from High Point, Victory's Weizenbock...

The problem comes from deliberate obfuscation of the term "hefeweizen." More than twenty years ago, for instance, a new unfiltered beer made with wheat made its market debut in the Pacific Northwest. It was successful, and it's still brewed to this day. It also spawned many imitators. Thing is, this wasn't a German-style unfiltered wheat beer; it was fermented with a more neutral ale yeast strain, one that didn't produce the characteristic fruity-spicy flavors associated with the hefeweizen beers of southern Germany. The Pacific Northwest brewer went ahead and called this beer "hefeweizen" anyway, even though its flavor was quite different from the southern German "hefeweizen" beers. Over time, this American-style unfiltered wheat beer has become identified all too often with the "hefeweizen" style. For the savvy beer drinker, this means becoming more style-knowledgeable, and recognizing by flavor and aroma which "hefeweizen" is which. Some brewers are honest enough to let the consumer know which style they actually make. Others continue to rely on deliberate obfuscation.

Good luck learning to discern which is which.

I would say the name hefeweizen has been mis-applied by several USA brewers to a range of cloudy beers with little regard for taste. At one time my favorite brewery Old Dominion, produced a deligthful european style hefeweizen. Unfortunately they dropped it in favor of a Summer Wheat to produce what is best described as a flat tasting ale.

Pretty easy. Just taste it and the style will become obvious.

Other American-Style Hefeweizens to recommend would be Mac & Jack's Serengeti Wheat and Piece Brewing Top Heavy Hefeweizen (2006 World Beer Cup winner).