Fujizakura Kougen Weizen

Brewed by Fujikankokaihatsu Co. / Sylvans Restaurant
Style: German Hefeweizen
Kawaguchiko-cho, Yamanashi-ken, Japan

Serve in Weizen

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Draught at the brewpub. Cloudy yellow, rich lively head. Strong estery banana/bandaid aroma. Sweetish with medium body, soft and very drinkable. Light and cottony with a whiff of citrus. A remarkable weizen!

Draught in Yokohama care of Tim Maloney. Cloudy yellow weizen with medium to large white foamy head. Nose is yeasty, lemon, clove, wheat, bubble gum, apple and grainy cereal. Sorry and a big hit of bananas in there! Taste is all of the above. As with most Japanese weizens the beer is very light and possibly lacks a bit of body but the fantastic nose and flavours make up for it.

Rated in Apr 2008. Head is mostly lasting. Body is hazy medium yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), lightly hoppy (flowers), with notes of banana and clove. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation. A solid, clean rendition.

This was the Festweizen version. On Tap. Aroma: Dark roasted caramel and banana. Palate: Medium-full body Flavor: Dark roasted caramel and banana Comments: Bigger, richer and darker than the Hidetakayama.

Draught @ Bakushu Club Popeye, Tokyo. Rated on 05.09.2011
Looks like basic weizen. Aroma has sweetish banana, something stale and wheat notes. Palate is surprisingly low on CO2. Flavour is slightly sour, and somewhat weird. It has hints of solvent and no banana whatsoever. One weird weizen and not really nice. Might have been a bad keg now that I’ve seen other ratings.

500 ml. sample bottle, poured to my 10 oz. tasting glass with a very clear, light golden hue, effervescent, rising bubbles, abundant, white bubbles and froth head foam, that slowly reduced to a persistent 1/2 inch layer, and wavy lacing. The aroma was light wheat and yeast, some candy sweetness, banana, hints of background spice as clove, and some complimentary bubblegum hints. The flavor added lively carbonation and light hop bitterness in a light bodied, but crisp and exceptionally sessionable brew. I was very impresssed by the light but very flavorful aspects, but also by the longevity of quality since first cellared back in April.

Bottle bought from the brewery and shipped within Japan. Now styled is English as Fujzakura Heights Beer. Unspiced, not massively chewy and not much yeast-borne banana but the most authentic tasting Weizenbier I can recall outside Bavaria.

Pours a hazy yellow color with a medium white head. Appealing aroma of bananas, yeast and cloves. Very good flavor of bananas, cloves and yeast. The body is light to medium with an oily texture and soft carbonation. This is a weizen done right.

[2220-20090605] Sample. Fresh banana wheat and mild cardboard aroma. Hazy, light orange body with a long-lasting creamy white head. Mild petrol and fresh wheaty fruit yeast. Medium body. Fresh and good.
(2T @ Mondial 2009; Montreal, QC)

Mondial 2009. THanks to Dany for the reccomendation. Solid Hefe. Pours a nice very light golden- hazy and a nice foamy soapy head. Aroma is phenolic, light soap, lemon zest, peppery, modest clove- ok fruity esters, banana, and doughy wheat. Flavor is spritzy with lemon, lime hints, toasted malts, wheat, dough, phenolic spices, and good fruity esters banana- clove hints of vanilla, but seems a bit on the thin side as it warms up and the yeast itself doens tplay as much of a role in the body. Pretty solid though and very well made. Nice stuff.

In short: My greatest most best favourite hefeweizen? Probably.
How: From the bottle at Montreal Mondial de la Bière 2009 (many samples)
The look: Cloudy yellow body topped by a medium off-white head
In long: The intriguing nose mixes banana cake, lemon and a really nice wilderness (almost Saison-like wild). Fantastic cushiony body. A lot of wheat, a big fluffy cake, a wild character that sneaks in, good astringency without being acidic, very big body without apparent malt sweetness, leafy and grassy hops dry out the beer with very little bitterness. Of course not the most tasty beer (it’s an hefe after-all) but there are very few beers I would like to drink in larger quantities than this one. I went back many times to get more samples. In a beer festival (Mondial de la Bière 2009) with all my favourite styles well represented I really didn’t expect a hefeweizen come out as my #1 beer of the festival. Nor did I expect to come out sober enough to stand on my feet. I was surprised once.