Man, it was hot today. A typical hot, muggy, steamy South Florida afternoon. By the time I left work I was tired and dehydrated and in need of some liquid refreshment. If you have read some of my earlier posts then you know this is the perfect time for a wheat beer. Enter, Paulaner Hefe-Weizen.
Hefe-Weizen is basically German for wheat beer. If you want you can go here for more info on wheat beers in general: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_beer. I have had, and have reviewed, a couple of wheat beers in the past and have found them to be very, very refreshing brews, so today I decided to go straight to the source and try a German one.
Paulaner is a highly regarded Munich brewery who's beers are widely available in the States. This 6-pack was picked up at my local Publix supermarket. Interestingly enough, this was my first Paulaner beer but not the one I originally wanted to try. I had the Salvator Doppel Bock in line to be my first Paulaner but this heat and humidity made me change course and go for the Hefe. It is a decision I do not regret.
This unfiltered 5.50% abv beer pours a cloudy, deep, dark, hazy, yellow, almost golden color. The head is creamy and a few streams of carbonation are visible bubbling up from the bottom of the glass. A hard pour will net you almost 4 fingers of head, eventually it will fizzle down to about an 1/8 of an inch that will stick around for the duration.
It smells like wheat. Along with some citrus/lemony hop, some slight malt and strong hints of sweet fruit (banana, pear + others).
The taste is much like the nose but with more fruit and less malt, combined with some subtle hints of citrus and a light, hoppy aftertaste that doesn't hang around very long.
This is a light, crisp beer that is carbonated just right. It is incredibly refreshing after a long, hot day and goes down so smooth that one can knock down the whole glass without even realizing it.
Then, once the glass is empty, you realize that the beer leaves some thick trails of lacing that are reminicent of a nitro-beer...
Those Germans do not mess around. Paulaner has been brewing beer for 360 years and it shows. This is a very clean and complex beer that is a pleasure to drink, specially on a hot, sweaty day. One of the better wheat beers around. It won't knock your socks off but it will quench your thirst and then some. A solid Glass 1/2 FULL and a beer I would recommend to any fan of the style or anybody working out in the sun. Cheers!
(Oh, and a big thanks goes out to my lovely girlfriend for turing me on to wheat beers in the first place and to the nice lady who gave me the elegant Glenlivet pen I used to take my notes =)
The Beer of the Day
I recently did a "taste-off" with the Paulaner and a US hefe. The Paulaner was awesome. I have only had a few hefeweizens. Are there others you'd recommend?
ReplyDeleteWhoops, link here to the "taste off"
ReplyDeletehttp://grinandbeerit.blogspot.com/2009/06/comparative-study-5-2-hefeweizens-face.html
Haven't had too many wheat beers myself but I like Sierra and Sammy so far. Plan to do the Oberon very soon. Check it out: http://www.bierbreath.com/2009/05/wheat-beer-review-sierra-nevada-ufo.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!
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Germans and Belgians do brewing with wheat the best. I include Austrians in that.
ReplyDeleteHere in Japan, Ginga Kogen has two nice wheat beers, filtered and unfiltered. Echigo Brewery, the oldest micro, also has a nice wheat beer.