Now that you’re ready to brew your own German wheat beer, check out our tried-and-true homebrew recipes. These beers are typically roused during pouring and because yeast is present, the beer will have yeast flavor and a characteristically fuller mouthfeel. During competition, entries will be roused unless instructed otherwise by the entering brewer. Banana-like ester flavor should be present at low to medium-high levels. The phenolic characteristics are often described as clove-like, nutmeg-like, mildly smoke-like or even vanilla-like. The flavor of a Weissbier with yeast is decidedly fruity and phenolic. These beers are made with at least 50 percent malted wheat. Malt sweetness is very low to medium-low. Banana-like ester aroma should be present at low to medium-high levels. The aroma of a German Hefeweizen is decidedly fruity and phenolic. Because yeast is present appearance may appropriately be very cloudy. South German-Style Hefeweizens are straw to amber. Here’s what the Brewers Association has to say about this distinctive beer style: And pronounced effervescence in excess of 3 volumes (6 g/L) of carbon dioxide, coupled with wheat’s high protein content, creates a thick, fluffy head that looks downright alluring when the beer is poured into its special vase-shaped glassware. The beer is served unfiltered with plenty of yeast in suspension (though German examples are frequently bottled with a lager strain). Bavarian weissbier strains create powerful esters and phenols that deliver the signature banana, clove, and bubblegum characteristics. It’s the yeast that really makes this style. Hop bitterness is just enough to offset malt sweetness, and there are virtually no hop flavors or aromas.

The large fraction of wheat in the grist contributes a bready flavor with a soft, pillowy mouthfeel and a medium-full body. By law, authentic Bavarian examples must be brewed with at least 50 percent wheat malt, though 60 to 70 percent is more common. Schneider & Sohn, producers of the highly regarded Schneider Weisse and Aventinus Weizenbock. Only in 1872 did the Wittelsbachs sell their royal privilege to Georg Schneider, whose brewery in Kelheim continues today as G. Thus began a state monopoly on wheat beer brewing that earned the House of Wittelsbach a great deal of money for the next 270 years. In 1602, the Degenberg line ended without an heir, and the wheat beer privilege transferred to Maximilian I, Wilhelm’s grandson.

In exchange for payments to Duke Wilhelm IV (co-author of the 1516 decree) the Degenbergers were allowed to continue brewing wheat beer, thus ensuring their loyalty to the Bavarian duchy. The House of Degenberg in Schwarzach-about 80 miles (129 km) northeast of Munich-retained a royal privilege to brew wheat beer, even though it technically violated the Reinheitsgebot.

Keeping wheat and rye out of the brewhouse ensured that there was enough to go around for baking bread, a nutritionally superior, more energy-dense product.īut there was an important exception. Sixteenth-century Europe experienced what historians have called a price revolution, a period of inflation that saw prices increase across the board. In fact, its popularity as a brewing grain was one of the factors that prompted the original Reinheitsgebot declaration of 1516. Humans have included wheat in beer for as long as we’ve been brewing. Yes, the style’s typical 5 to 5.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) places it slightly beyond what many consider session territory, but if you’re seeking big flavor and bigger refreshment on a hot summer’s day, it’s hard to beat this southern German classic. Session IPA is perhaps the most visible member of the new guard, but for my money, there are few more satisfying session beers than Bavarian wheat beer, also known as hefeweizen, weissbier, and weizenbier. (Check out Jennifer Talley’s Session Beers, available from Brewers Publications.) In response, homebrewers and commercial brewers are conjuring up some wonderful new styles even as they revisit established ones. Imperial stouts and double IPAs have their place, to be sure, but craft beer consumers are increasingly demanding more flavor from less alcohol. Session beers are all the rage right now.

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