Wheat Beer 101

[Wurm]

I got asked about Weizen in a PM and thought I'd answer it here to give all the Wheat beer noobs a bit of info.

Weizen (Weissbier) is the term for "Wheat beer" so its the class description. Under it falls 4(5) types of Weizen in Bavaria, Berlin style Weizen is mostly the same but they use a different type of yeast and a bacteria to make it much more sour in taste (they then add sugary fruit syrups to it to make it sweet, the Berliner are a tad strange).

1) Hefeweizen - Unfiltered Wheat beer with brewers yeast, you pour it out until the last half an inch of beer and then swirl whats left in the bottle and top it off. Very cloudy and filling (read fattening). The yeast lets the beer continue to ferment in the bottle, some like to age it, some don't. I prefer Hefeweizen that has at least 6 months of aging and keep a case in the basement for this purpose.

2) Kristal Weizen - Wheat beer extra filtered to remove all wurze and yeast. Doesn't ferment in the bottle, and has alot more Co2 than a Hefeweizen. Served mostly in summer with a slice of lemon in it or one or two kernels of rice to make it fizz (remove the excess Co2). Light and Refreshing.

3) Dunkel Weizen - Dark Malted Hefeweizen, Usually has a stronger alcohol content, my favorite beer in winter

4) Weizen Bock - Same as above but with 7% or better alcohol content. The stuff will rock your socks!

Then there is alcohol free Weizen(5), but we wont go there

Next thing and very important is the Weizen glass. Weizen has to be drank out of a Weizen glass. They look like this...

This link shows you why the glass is shaped that way and how to pour a Weizen.

I am able to pour two Weizen at one time using a trick that I learned while working here as a bartender... Most noobs screw up pouring a Weizen the first couple of times and end up with an entire glass of foam. You will get made fun of in Germany if you "give good head"

So practice practice practice!

And thats Wurm's basic tour of the World of Bavarian Wheat beers.

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit,
ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!
Schenkt ein, trinkt aus, schenkt ein, trinkt aus!


PROST!

 

[smellysell]

Very nice Wurm. Is German Lagers 101 next?

 

[Wurm]

Very nice Wurm. Is German Lagers 101 next?

lol no... all the other German beer is pour and drink, Weizen is the only beer I know of that you REALLY need the right type of glass and pour technique.

Then again PILS does taste best drawn out of a keg and drank out of a "tulip" but you can still drink it out of a bottle.

Drinking Weizen out of a bottle should be grounds enough for someone to be doomed to drinking girly drinks the rest of his life.

I forgot two favorite German Weizen Drinks, I'm not crazy about them but a lot of people like them.

1) Cola Weizen - pour half a Hefeweizen into a Weizen glass, fill the rest SLOWLY with cola.

2) Banana Weizen - pour half to 3/4 of a bottle of Hefeweizen into a Weizen glass, fill the rest with pureed Banana juice.

 

[denverdog]

Thanks for the lesson Prof. Wurm, although I think I will pass on the last two. :0

 

[tsmckenney]

2) Banana Weizen - pour half to 3/4 of a bottle of Hefeweizen into a Weizen glass, fill the rest with pureed Banana juice.

That is so very European. I can just see some German in a skin-tight striped sweater, floppy hair over the ears, pouring banana juice into a fine HefeWeizen (that we couldn't even get over here) with techno pounding in the background.

Banana juice...Why did we save these people from themselves?

 

[Wurm]

2) Banana Weizen - pour half to 3/4 of a bottle of Hefeweizen into a Weizen glass, fill the rest with pureed Banana juice.

That is so very European. I can just see some German in a skin-tight striped sweater, floppy hair over the ears, pouring banana juice into a fine HefeWeizen (that we couldn't even get over here) with techno pounding in the background.

Banana juice...Why did we save these people from themselves?

Its really not that bad... the cola one is frigging horrible though but my wife drinks them when we go out to the bar.

*edit* And "banana" is something most people use to describe straight Hefeweizen and it does have that taste to it, the juice just makes it more pronounced.

 

[tsmckenney]

Echh..grimace...but take into account I ate nothing but bananas and rice for 3 straight years (Kenya). Sick to death of it.