Recommend a weissbier

gooner99

Just back from a weekend in north Germany.great time and the weiss bier was great.nice and smooth and no hangover . Unfortunately I didn't pay too much attention to the brands . But I think one was Maisel weisse and the other Schneider weisse going by pictures of the glasses and bottles on the net.they were the paler beers not the dark ones.anyone know if these are handy to get a hold off or if not are there any others with a similar taste. In Donegal, so maybe my options are limited. Thanks.

BeerNut

Both are readily available in Ireland. If you don't see them anywhere else I'd be reasonably certain Dicey's in Ballyshannon will be able to sort you out.

suicide_circus

The fact that you were drinking wiessbier bears no relation to the fact that you didn't get a hangover.

gooner99

suicide_circus wrote: »

The fact that you were drinking wiessbier bears no relation to the fact that you didn't get a hangover.

Oh.must have been something else. Just thought it was given we were on a right aul session.

gooner99

BeerNut wrote: »

Both are readily available in Ireland. If you don't see them anywhere else I'd be reasonably certain Dicey's in Ballyshannon will be able to sort you out.

Thanks for that . must check it out.

PropJoe10

Schneider Weisse Tap 5 is pretty special stuff. Strong though, so to be drunk sparingly!

gooner99

Are there German Wheat beers that a available in supermarkets that are worth considering.I have easy access to Lidl/Aldi and Supervalu and regular access to Tesco/Dunnes/M&S and Sainsburys?

adocholiday

I may be shot down by some of the purists on here but:

Aldi: Schofferhofer (first wheatbear in Germany to be brewed outside of Bavaria, and very tasty @ €1.79 per bottle)
Lidl: Franziskaner @ 1.79 per bottle, sometimes have a special on 4 for €6
Supervalu: Usually depends on the off-licence manager to buy in the non Diageo/Heineken stuff so ask if they can get some for you
Tesco: I can't say what the one beside you stocks but most would have Paulaner, Erdinger, Schneiderweisse Tap 7, and Franziskaner
Dunnes: No idea

Otherwise try any local off licence and see if they would order in some for you. There is a huge selection available in Ireland. Also if you like the German wheat beers you should try some of the Belgian blonde beers. Go easy on them though they tend to be very strong.

gooner99

adocholiday wrote: »

I may be shot down by some of the purists on here but:

Aldi: Schofferhofer (first wheatbear in Germany to be brewed outside of Bavaria, and very tasty @ €1.79 per bottle)
Lidl: Franziskaner @ 1.79 per bottle, sometimes have a special on 4 for €6
Supervalu: Usually depends on the off-licence manager to buy in the non Diageo/Heineken stuff so ask if they can get some for you
Tesco: I can't say what the one beside you stocks but most would have Paulaner, Erdinger, Schneiderweisse Tap 7, and Franziskaner
Dunnes: No idea

Otherwise try any local off licence and see if they would order in some for you. There is a huge selection available in Ireland. Also if you like the German wheat beers you should try some of the Belgian blonde beers. Go easy on them though they tend to be very strong.

Nice one,thanks. I'd say Schneiderweisse Tap 7 was the one I had at the weekend,I think it's the original. Nice balance between taste and strength. And no hangover was a real plus.

adocholiday

gooner99 wrote: »

Nice one,thanks. I'd say Schneiderweisse Tap 7 was the one I had at the weekend,I think it's the original.

I think it's the most popular one. I'm a big fan, maybe too big of a fan :pac:

I've had tap 4 and tap 6 also, but I always go back to the tap 7 or Schofferhofer. As regards the hangover, hangovers are usually a result of dehydration from drinking alcohol. However I think that German law only allows 6 ingredients in their beer: Water/Barley/Hops/Yeast/Wheat/Sugar so there is less rubbish added to them compared to your usual mass produced swill. It probably helps but believe me I have had many a hangover after a night drinking weissbiers!

BeerNut

adocholiday wrote: »

Sugar

:eek: Definitely not! That's what those English and Belgian pigdogs put in their "beer". Strictly against the Reinheitsgebot.

The 'gebot isn't the law any more but virtually all German brewers abide by it. German drinkers seem to believe it makes beer better.

I can't think of any of the German weissbiers sold in Irish supermarkets that aren't worth a go. I like Scheider-Weisse in particular, but Franziskaner is excellent for the money Lidl charge for it. Erdinger's probably about the most boring of the lot, but there's not a thing really wrong with it.

irish_goat

adocholiday wrote: »

I may be shot down by some of the purists on here but:

Nothing wrong with your list (not that I'm calling myself a purist).

Schneider Tap 7 is my favourite but I'd not turn down a Franzikaner, Weihnestephaner or the Aldi Schofferhofer.

adocholiday

BeerNut wrote: »

:eek: Definitely not! That's what those English and Belgian pigdogs put in their "beer". Strictly against the Reinheitsgebot.

The 'gebot isn't the law any more but virtually all German brewers abide by it. German drinkers seem to believe it makes beer better.

The Reinheitsgebot was superceded by the Vorläufiges Biergesetz in 1993 which allowed water, malted barley, hops and yeast be used for bottom-fermented beer and Top-fermented beer allows for a wider variety of malt as well as sucrose and beet sugars. Weissbier is top fermented and is technically not Reinheitsgebot compliant because it is made with malted wheat :cool: But I don't think any of the good weissbiers contain sugar to be fair

BeerNut

Oh, I didn't know there was any law on this still in force. There sure are plenty of exceptions to it: your Gose, your untergärigem roggenbier and whatnot.

Boskowski

Schoefferhofer and Franziskaner are very nice. The fact that aldi and lidl stock them is no indicator of them being cheap beers at all. They're top notch. Go with them.
Schneider Weisse is lovely too.

The Reinheitsgebot is about using water, barley and hops only. That's it. But that applies to pils mostly. Weissbier typically has yeast also.

a_non_a_mouse

Franzikaner and Weistephaner (spelling?) are two of the best in my opinion.

Recent convert myself after a trip to Germany also....Sorry didn't try them years ago.

drumswan

Boskowski wrote: »

The Reinheitsgebot is about using water, barley and hops only. That's it. But that applies to pils mostly. Weissbier typically has yeast also.

Its tricky to get fermentation going without yeast I find

Interesting thread. Im a bit hazy around this style but there is a nice Irish one that pops up in The Headline now and then - Kinsale Williams Wheat which I have enjoyed a lot.

gooner99

How to pour a hefeweiss is interesting also.drink from the right glass rinsed with cold water,pour at 45 degrees and swirl the last little bit in the bottle to mix in the yeast.anyone know if it makes a difference versus just pouring in our usual way?

Boskowski

gooner99 wrote: »

How to pour a hefeweiss is interesting also.drink from the right glass rinsed with cold water,pour at 45 degrees and swirl the last little bit in the bottle to mix in the yeast.anyone know if it makes a difference versus just pouring in our usual way?

Pouring the usual way just doesn't work with Weizenbier as there is too much gas. It'll foam up like mad and you'll spend ages on the last half of the bottle. It's the same reason why a Weizenbier can't be downed in one go. No way you could hold it, it'll come out of your ears.
It's the classic setup for the aspiring but unsuspecting teenage macho.

drumswan

Boskowski wrote: »

Pouring the usual way just doesn't work with Weizenbier as there is too much gas. It'll foam up like mad and you'll spend ages on the last half of the bottle. It's the same reason why a Weizenbier can't be downed in one go. No way you could hold it, it'll come out of your ears.
It's the classic setup for the aspiring but unsuspecting teenage macho.

Maybe they should introduce a two part pour :P

adocholiday

gooner99 wrote: »

How to pour a hefeweiss is interesting also.drink from the right glass rinsed with cold water,pour at 45 degrees and swirl the last little bit in the bottle to mix in the yeast.anyone know if it makes a difference versus just pouring in our usual way?

Exactly how we were served Schofferhofer in Berlin. I had never seen it poured like that before. The barman rinsed the glass in water (I thought he lost the plot) and then poured most of the bottle in very quickly. At the very end then he laid the bottle flat on the bar and rolled it around a bit and poured the rest in then. Apparently swirling the end of the bottle rouses the yeast so when poured it mixes through the beer in the glass. You can see the beer is much cloudier when done this way and the taste is much better IMO.

munchkin_utd

adocholiday wrote: »

Exactly how we were served Schofferhofer in Berlin. I had never seen it poured like that before. The barman rinsed the glass in water (I thought he lost the plot) and then poured most of the bottle in very quickly. At the very end then he laid the bottle flat on the bar and rolled it around a bit and poured the rest in then. Apparently swirling the end of the bottle rouses the yeast so when poured it mixes through the beer in the glass. You can see the beer is much cloudier when done this way and the taste is much better IMO.

rinsing the glass is part of the hygiene regulations, but thats only one issue.

aparantly 70% of the problems with serving a dud weissbier, i.e. when it has a flat head, is to do with the glass. Either dust or other impurities destroying the head.
the rinsing gets rid of the contamination and also provides a film along the glass that stops large air bubbles forming (which also are bad for the head)

heres a fairly detailed runddown on proper glass care and weissbier pouring (in german, so google translate needed) from a weissbier brewery that I'd recommend, although obviously they've a range of weissbiers and all are worth a try.
http://www.schneider-weisse.de/index.php?lang=de&sid=&tpl=kunden.ausschank.glaeserpflege

BeerNut

adocholiday wrote: »

he laid the bottle flat on the bar and rolled it around a bit

I've seen that plenty of times in Germany, but last time I was in Bavaria the practice was to hold the almost-empty bottle upright and roll it between two palms for a couple of seconds before pouring the lees into the glass.

munchkin_utd

BeerNut wrote: »

I've seen that plenty of times in Germany, but last time I was in Bavaria the practice was to hold the almost-empty bottle upright and roll it between two palms for a couple of seconds before pouring the lees into the glass.

if you do it this way then, if done right with a bottle that was standing upright for a while where the yeast and most of the solids are settled at the bottom, your beer in the glass from the first pour will be perfectly clear and then youre pouring the last 5% of beer and pure cloudy stuff (incl. the yeast) into the glass. Its a cool effect, and you might even get clumps of yeast fizzing their way down the glass - and when all settles its still way clearer at the bottom than the top.
Bar staff normally wouldnt be bothered doing this, but some weissbier fans take pride in being able to pour it like that.

on the other hand, I know bar men who deliberately DONT pour all the yeasty stuff into the beer as its only impurities youre adding.

drumswan

I leave the lees out myself

gooner99

And I guess the correct thing to do is rewash the glass and rinse again with cold water before pouring a new bottle into it?

BeerNut

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Bar staff normally wouldnt be bothered doing this, but some weissbier fans take pride in being able to pour it like that.

This was in non-Munich parts of Bavaria In Munich your weissbier will likely come from a keg :eek:

irish_goat

BeerNut wrote: »

In Munich your weissbier will likely come from a keg :eek:

Didn't find that in my experience to be honest. Had plenty of bottles the time I was there anyway.

BeerNut

Well, the only one I drank was Schneider Hopfenweisse, and that was on draught. I didn't send it back, mind.

irish_goat

BeerNut wrote: »

Well, the only one I drank was Schneider Hopfenweisse, and that was on draught. I didn't send it back, mind.

I had a few draught beers in restaurants but the beer gardens, the hostel and cellar bars all seemed to serve bottles.

It was a big bottle of Tap X when I was at Schneider's pub.

Ruben Remus

Of the standard German weissbiers, Franziskaner is probably my favourite.

I recently tried the cheap canned one from Lidl (Grafenwalder, I think?) and it wasn't bad.

gooner99

Thanks Guys,This thread has turned out very useful,with lots of ideas for brands to try and even how to pour it.

munchkin_utd

BeerNut wrote: »

This was in non-Munich parts of Bavaria In Munich your weissbier will likely come from a keg :eek:

not if I'm ordering it !
Theres normally dunkel available from the bottle so its the backup plan should standard weissbier be from the tap .

devildriver

My personal favourites are:

Hoegaarden (Belgian)
Franziskaner (German)
Erdinger (German)

But there's plenty out there to try. Blue Moon (American) is surprisingly good and one that I loved but can't seem to find easily is Kronenberg Blanc.

gooner99

Interesting the Lidl and Aldi ones come up as being good time and time again.I think I did try one of them before and wasn't impressed.Might have been the bad pour that was part of the problem,I ended up with a very foamy beer.

munchkin_utd

gooner99 wrote: »

Interesting the Lidl and Aldi ones come up as being good time and time again.I think I did try one of them before and wasn't impressed.Might have been the bad pour that was part of the problem,I ended up with a very foamy beer.

nope, they're crap all right. Over carbonated and quite flavourless.
Which is actually also a good description of Erdinger, which is the most popular weissbier across non weissbier drinking regions thanks to its neutral (watery) taste.
But that explains why the Aldi/ Lidl beers are similar, as this wateryness is what the north and east of germany expect and want from a weissbier, seeing as Erdinger was the first to bring Weissbier to the masses outside of its traditional homelands in south germany.

gooner99

munchkin_utd wrote: »

nope, they're crap all right. Over carbonated and quite flavourless.
Which is actually also a good description of Erdinger, which is the most popular weissbier across non weissbier drinking regions thanks to its neutral (watery) taste.
But that explains why the Aldi/ Lidl beers are similar, as this wateryness is what the north and east of germany expect and want from a weissbier, seeing as Erdinger was the first to bring Weissbier to the masses outside of its traditional homelands in south germany.

Which ones do you recommend?

munchkin_utd

gooner99 wrote: »

Which ones do you recommend?

from whats available in Ireland,
- Schneider Weiss Orginal (more tending to dunkel that regular) - http://www.drinkstore.ie/Schneider-Weisse-Tap-7-Unser-Original-500ML-4003669016203/
- Schneider Weiss Blonde (their version of "regular" weissbier) http://www.drinkstore.ie/Schneider-Weisse-Tap-1-Meine-Blonde-Weisse-500ML-4003669016807/
- Frankziskaner - (not as good as Schneider, but still more than acceptable and on a deal is great money spent) http://www.drinkstore.ie/FRANZISKANER-HEFE-500ML-4072700003649/
- Paulaner Weissbier - (a nicely balanced weissbier) http://www.drinkstore.ie/PAULANER-HEFE-WEIS-500ML-4066600611981/

Actually, to be honest most weissbiers that you'd get are grand, aside from Erdinger, but even they have recognised that and have an "Urweisse" version that actually tastes of something.

BTW, in case anyone thinks I have something irrational against Erdinger, I dont. Aparantly they are the soundest crowd ever to work for and really look after their staff, its still family ran and they can be thanked for making weissbier popular across germany.
But their success is entirely based on brewing a watered down version of weissbier that was deliberately created to appeal to non weissbier drinkers, and that has to be pointed out (so for folks used to watery lager may be a positive thing)

gooner99

munchkin_utd wrote: »

from whats available in Ireland,
- Schneider Weiss Orginal (more tending to dunkel that regular) - http://www.drinkstore.ie/Schneider-Weisse-Tap-7-Unser-Original-500ML-4003669016203/
- Schneider Weiss Blonde (their version of "regular" weissbier) http://www.drinkstore.ie/Schneider-Weisse-Tap-1-Meine-Blonde-Weisse-500ML-4003669016807/
- Frankziskaner - (not as good as Schneider, but still more than acceptable and on a deal is great money spent) http://www.drinkstore.ie/FRANZISKANER-HEFE-500ML-4072700003649/
- Paulaner Weissbier - (a nicely balanced weissbier) http://www.drinkstore.ie/PAULANER-HEFE-WEIS-500ML-4066600611981/

Actually, to be honest most weissbiers that you'd get are grand, aside from Erdinger, but even they have recognised that and have an "Urweisse" version that actually tastes of something.

BTW, in case anyone thinks I have something irrational against Erdinger, I dont. Aparantly they are the soundest crowd ever to work for and really look after their staff, its still family ran and they can be thanked for making weissbier popular across germany.
But their success is entirely based on brewing a watered down version of weissbier that was deliberately created to appeal to non weissbier drinkers, and that has to be pointed out (so for folks used to watery lager may be a positive thing)

Thanks for that. It was a Schneider and a Miesle that we were drinking.But I can't remember if it was the original Schneider or the blonde.Sure I'll give both a go and see.The Miesle was also very tasty.

drumswan

Heres the ones from the Ratebeer top 50 which are available here, in ranking order

Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier
Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier
Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier
Schneider Weisse Original
Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen
Schneider Weisse Tap X Meine Sommer Weisse
Maisels Weisse Original

gooner99

drumswan wrote: »

Heres the ones from the Ratebeer top 50 which are available here, in ranking order

Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier
Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier
Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier
Schneider Weisse Original
Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen
Schneider Weisse Tap X Meine Sommer Weisse
Maisels Weisse Original

Good list.Must hit the off license this weekend. Strange for me as I usually just get some lager from a supermarket. And indeed at that I don't often drink in the house, mostly the pub. Next thing on my list is to get the wife's brother to get some into his pub. Are the draft weissbiers we get here similar to our other beers in that they are brewed here, all full or gas and chemicals and bear little resemblance to the original?

adocholiday

gooner99 wrote: »

Are the draft weissbiers we get here similar to our other beers in that they are brewed here, all full or gas and chemicals and bear little resemblance to the original?

I've had Paulaner and Franziskaner on draft a number of times and they were grand. Like any other beer though if they're not moving it regularly it won't be great. I believe that the flavour really starts to diminish from kegged weissbiers after 4-6 weeks once they've been opened so bottled would have a better shelf life.

drumswan

Got the last bottle of Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier in drinkstore this afternoon, hah

lk67

I thought Frankziskaner was still available in Aldi or Lidl at a good price?

And personally I thought Shofferhofer was quite good and also very affordable in Aldi...

gooner99

Just back from a little trip to the German supermarkets.picked up a bottle of ....

Aldi - Schöfferhofer 0.5l @ €1.79
Aldi - Paulaner 0.5l @ €2.49
Lidl - Franziskaner 0.5l @€;1.99

All are chilling in the fridge!

Carawaystick

this is the best wheat beer
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/aecht-schlenkerla-rauchbier-weizen/8565/

followed closely by this beaut
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/schneider-aventinus-weizen-eisbock/10514/

Probably not for everyday though

gooner99

I suppose the Paulaner is only in for Octoberfest.

oblivious

gooner99 wrote: »

I suppose the Paulaner is only in for Octoberfest.

The wheat is available all year round, their Octoberfest marzen is for the fest

gooner99

oblivious wrote: »

The wheat is available all year round, their Octoberfest marzen is for the fest

Sorry,I meant to say that I guess Paulaner is probably only in Aldi for a short while.

gooner99

Tried the Paulaner. Lovely pint, nice and smooth. Did the whole pour thing,rinsed with cold water and left wet, poured at 45 degrees and swirled the last bit to get all the yeast. Happy with that one.

adocholiday

Carawaystick wrote: »

this is the best wheat beer
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/aecht-schlenkerla-rauchbier-weizen/8565/

Those Rauchbiers are not for the faint of heart! The flavour is incredibly intense. They're so smokey they're almost like drinking liquidated rashers

I had one in the Brewdock one night and while I enjoyed it i don't think I'd be in a hurry for another.

Oh and picked up 4 Schoferhoffers today myself OP. This thread gave me a longing for some!