The next phase of my beer conquest introduced me to wheat beers. “Wheat is a terrific base ingredient that provides brewers the opportunity to utilize additional ingredients to influence aromas and flavors” (from Total Wine & Beer’s Total Guide to Beer). And even in my non-expert opinion, I agree.
Altogether, I’ll be trying 3 different wheat beers and the first one I tasted was Franziskaner Weissbier, brewed by Spaten-Brau in Munich, Germany.
This brewery has been producing fine beers in accordance with the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516 for over 600 years. Here’s what it looks like and here’s a link to the site. My initial review of the site is that it has a lot of good info in a very crappy layout.
Anyway, keep reading for my [brief] review.
I thought that the beer tasted very “beer-y”. It was also very “bread-y”, like, it totally tasted like wheat bread…which I loooooove. Lastly, it was very smooth and clear at the same time. Other than that, there wasn’t a whole lot more complexity to its taste or texture.
I’ve tried a few different pale ales and wheats, and the wheats are definitely winning for me so far. This beer was more cloudy as it was unfiltered and created an immense amount of head. And the head stuck around a lot longer. This is because of the higher levels of protein in wheat beers. (See? I’m learning).
Have you tried Franziskaner before? What were your thoughts?
Next up: Hacker-Pschorr Weisse
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