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Beer Styles - South German Wheats

Styles & Seasonals June 23, 2005      
Written by Oakes


Richmond, CANADA -

German Hefeweizen/Kristalweizen



German-style wheat beers come in four main forms, and this is the most popular of those. Hefeweizen means "wheat beer with yeast". Wheat has been a common brewing ingredient for millennia and although barley is easy to work with, wheat lends an interesting character to beer. Wheat beer in Germany was not so long ago unfashionable but in the past couple of decades has enjoyed a resurgence, and now can be found all over the world. Unlike with many beer styles, however, the resurgence of wheat did not take place in America, but in the style’s homeland.



Hefeweizens are seldom made with 100% wheat - usually it is a combination of 40-60% wheat and the rest is barley. Special yeast strains are used to achieve the particular character of the beer. The most famous of these is the "Weihenstephan" yeast, but there are many others. Whatever yeast is used should be estery and phenolic, otherwise the beer would be in the style that is most commonly known as American Wheat (regardless of the beer’s place of origin).



They are ales, and as such are not subjected to the lagering that almost every other German style is subject to. Hefeweizens leave the yeast in suspension, where Kristalweizens filter it out.



Hefeweizen has a cloudy appearance from the yeast, and the colour ranges from pale yellow to almost brown. Kristalweizen is not cloudy, and you seldom if ever see one that isn’t yellow. Typically, hefeweizens have a huge head, as wheat promotes head and retention. High carbonation is also typical of the style. The flavour is sweet, slightly tart, with flavours of marshmallow and bread from the malt, and banana, clove, perhaps bubblegum from the yeast. Alcohol is usually between 5-6%. The flavour profile of kristalweizen seems less pronounced than it hefeweizen. The yeast in hefeweizen seems to round the flavours off a bit, adding to the balance of that variety. Hop character should not be present, and bitterness is modest.



While the range of Hefe/Kristal/Dunkel is quite widely known in the beer world, there are actually precious few Kristalweizens in existence any more, as consumers generally want their wheat beer to be cloudy. The style seems obsolete now, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was extinct fifteen years from now.



Most popular examples (Hefeweizen): Paulaner Hefeweissbier (Germany), Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier (Germany), Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier (Germany), Schneider Weisse (Germany), Hacker-Pschorr Hefe-Weisse (Germany)



Some of my favourites (Hefeweizen): New Glarus Solstice Weiss (USA), Denison’s Weissbier (Canada), Zentrumsbier Weizen (China), Lohrer Keiler Weiss (Germany), Grefibräu Weisse (Germany)



Most popular examples (Kristalweizen): Weihenstephaner Kristalweissbier (Germany), Franziskaner Club Weissebier (Germany), Erdinger Weissbier Kristalklar (Germany), Tucher Kristall Weizen (Germany), Maisel Weisse Kristall (Germany)



Some of my favourites (Kristalweizen): Franziskaner Club Weissebier (Germany)



Colour (Hefe): 0.5 – 2.25

Flavour (Hefe): 1 – 4

Sweetness (Hefe): 2.25 – 4.25



Colour (Kristal): 0 – 1.5

Flavour (Kristal): 0 – 3

Sweetness (Kristal): 2.25 – 4



Dunkelweizen



"Dark wheat" is just that - a dark version of hefeweizen. The yeast, abv range and production methods are the same, but the addition of dark malt gives the beer a new dynamic. Rather than the light, marshmallowy, bready malt notes that are hefeweizen’s signature, dunkelweizens have toasty, nutty dark malt notes. It is possible that some dunkelweizens would be dark versions of kristalweizen or American wheat. German-style ones will of course have the estery, phenolic character but American ones will be cleaner, focusing on the wheat-dark malt dynamic instead.



Most popular examples: Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel (Germany), Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel (Germany), Ayinger Ur-Weisse (Germany), Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel (Germany), Hacker-Pschorr Dunkel Weisse (Germany)



Some of my favourites: Weltenburg Kloster Hefe-Weizen Dunkel (Germany), Martini Weissbier Dunkel (Germany), Ramstein Classic (USA), Paulaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel (Germany)





Colour: 2 – 4.25

Flavour: 1 – 4

Sweetness: 2.75 – 4



Weizenbock



Weizenbock is, not surprisingly, a combination of weizen and bock. A wheat beer is brewed, typically with the inclusion of dark malts, to a higher strength. It is fermented like any other German-style wheat, with the appropriate top-fermenting yeast. (There are examples, of course, that are pale, or fermented with a clean yeast).



The resulting beer is strong (6.5-8%), dark and opaque with the fluffy head and high carbonation typical of a wheat beer. The flavour mixes strong dark malt notes, deep fruitiness and spiciness from the yeast, alcohol. The overall character is sweet, as the beer is only lightly hopped as is typical with wheat beers. Weizenbock is the most intense member of the wheat beer family (excluding lambics).



Most popular examples: Schneider Aventinus (Germany), Samuel Adams Winter Lager (USA), Victory Moonglow Weizenbock (USA), Erdinger Pinkatus (Germany), Mahr’s Brau Weisse Bock (Germany)



Some of my favourites: Schneider Aventinus (Germany), Victory Moonglow Weizenbock (USA), Mahr’s Brau Weisse Bock (Germany), Ramstein Winter Wheat (USA)



Colour: 2.5 – 4.5

Flavour: 3 – 4.25

Sweetness: 3 – 4.25

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