[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Hefeweizen (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 12/22/2006 9:13:50 AM EDT
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Hrmm, I just had a Harpoon UFO Hefeweizen. Ive always stayed away from unfiltered wheat beers, but damn this is good. Im sure there are better Hefe's out there though. |
I'm the exact opposite - Shiner Hefe is one of the better beers I've ever had, and definately my favorite hefeweizen. |
Damn straight! Those are the only two Hefes I have had in the US that were worth a damn, of course both are imported. Most US breweries do ok with pilsners and lagers, even a few ales, but they usually can't make weizen worth a crap. |
Couldn't have said it better myself! This summer my family and I were in Germany and I had quite a few Paulaner's and Franziskaner's in the biergartens. It was fantastic! www.paulaner.de/ www.franziskaner.com/ ETA: Where I was stationed in Germany during the 80's they always put a few grains of rice in the beer and served it with a lemon "mit zitrona". Was that just a local thing? In the areas we were at this summer there was no rice or lemon. It was good just the same! BTW, I'm guessing the rice was put in as a early man's lava lamp. The rice would constantly rise to the surface, then travel back down to the bottom of the glass. It was pretty cool! |
Not sure, what part of Germany were you living in? I mostly have spent time in the Rhineland-Pfaltz and Bavaria. Heidelburg, Frankfurt, Munchen, Saarbrucken, etc. That and a few trips to Berlin. I always seemed to get a slice of lemon in my coke (which I like) but never in my beer. Beer is always best closest to the brewery and freshly bottled/kegged. I like all the weizens, hefe, krystall, and dunkel, and the dunkel pils in Bavaria are like the nectar of the Gods. 
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I prefere my homemade Bavarian Wheat. I use a strain of yeast that has an outstanding flavor...Since the wheat beers don't rely heavily on hops for flavor the yeast is critical. These guys own the world in terms of homebrewers yeast... Wyeast I use the 3056 Bavarian Wheat Yeast |
And even in a proper Weizen glass, well done! Now if you know how to pour it properly (invert glass over bottle, flip them and slowly raise bottle) you are 100% gtg. I wish I had a few of those right now.
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Quoted: Found a store that has some imported German Beer and found Schwelmer HefeWeizen, nice looking at the ingredients and just seeing Water, Malt, Hops, Yeast, good stuff.  Ha! I did some marketing/strategy stuff for the distributers of Schwelmer! You have great taste, but I'll take a Franziskaner anyday over it, personally. |
In the finest tradition of ARFCOM, I buy both Schwelmer and Fraziskaner. 
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+1 - I just bought a case yesterday. Best beer I ever tested. |
| Widmer Hefe tastes like it was filtered through a used sock. If you have never had at the least Paulaner or Franziskaner you have no basis for comparison. Pyramid hefe is better than Widmer, but it still sucks. Blue moon is the only US brewed wheat beer I have had that tastes remotely like it should. |
Widmer beats Paulaner or Fanziskaner hands down. Pyramid is not better than either but is still decent. All of those are Heffeweisens in the German tradition. Blue Moon is a Belgian style Wit beer (brewed by Coors) and totally different due to its yeast/hop make-up. Not to mention the addition of coriander and other spices that make German purists cringe but real beer lovers rejoice. 
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Now that you brought it up Chairborne, they only did that with the krystall the best I can remember. I was in a little town called Ettlingen - south of Karlsruhe, the northern part of the Black Forest. It was / is a beautiful town. I will get back there again someday. Wish I would have went there this past summer! |
Looks very good Leatherpuke. Send some this way! Over here, it's $32 for a case of 24, 12 oz bottles. The beer tastes pretty much the same over here. I bought a case of it right when I got back from Germany just to do a taste test!  However, we sure can't get that good rye bread and brautworst to go with it!
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I'm sitting here drinking one as I type. We've visited Portland a few times, and let me tell you - they are some good beers to be had in those parts! 
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That's been my experience also, as far as "bottled" weitzen. I have gotten lucky with a couple of micro-breweries, in the USA, that were good also (tap), but considering I never pass up a micro-brewery without tasting, it ends up being a very small percentage that passes the test for me. |
My homebrew recipie for Bavarian Wheat is a dead ringer for the Erdinger...Hey, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it  Der Erdinger is der' meister brow, ja |
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I just had a bottle of Erdinger dunkels last night. 
I never saw anyone pour it like that in Germany, but I don't remember seeing anyone pour it at all. Was always on tap. I've seen two people try it here in the States and the whole beer ended up on the floor in a foamy mess. I just pour it like the Paulaner bottle says- pour all but a couple ounces, swirl bottle to stir up the yeast from the bottom of the bottle, and pour the rest into the glass. |
When I am hanging out at my German friend's house and we are drinking from bottles that's how he taught me to pour it. It's not really tricky at all, and the "glugging" of the bottle gets all the yeast stirred up and out of the bottom of the bottle. It really does work well, that's how I always pour them. |
I was in two biergartens that poured them as Chairborne relates. The one was in Planegg which was right outside Munich and a little place in Dresden that was right along the river. Before this summer I never saw one poured like that! |
Usually see rice and lemon in Kristal Weizen and a lemon wedge only in Hefe Weizen. The rice is added to keep a nice fresh head on the beer.
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Well if you make it over here to Portland check out Woodstock Wine and Deli, Hawthorn Wine and Deli, and many specialty grocery stores. I am sure there are some in WA.... |
Hmmm, well now I know! After a few I could easily get distracted by watching the rice go up and down in my glass! We called it "early man's lava lamp".
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Some bar tenders in the German clubs liked to invert the weizen bottle in the glass when pouring. It’s an art to keep it from foaming over. I simply tip the glass and beer at an angle and pour, swirling the last few ounces to get all the yeast off the bottom of the bottle. Over the summer I introduced a buddy to weizen. We polished off 24 Paulaner between the two of us that evening. I’ll tell ya what, my 40 year old body can’t handle the hangovers as well as I could as an 18 year old Private in Germany during the 80’s! 
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This from a guy who likes Belgian Grand Cru shampoo beer.... 
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+1. Widmer sucks ass. I would kill for a decent Kristall Weizen, but in the states all I have found is Hefe.  |
Criticism from a Coors Light aficionado  .
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