Hefeweizen

Get it? Heifer Weizen... that's clever. This bottle of Lilja's Heifer Weizen was found on a recent vacation across state lines where Wisconsin beers are more readily available. I'd never seen the Lilja's beers from Sand Creek Brewing before so I snatched up as many as I could. Among them was a lone bottle of Hefeweizen that says "Wisconsin Farmhouse Wheat Beer" printed on the side. The label looks more or less homemade, with a badly photoshopped picture of cows in a field with a thought bubble asking "Where's da beer?" Kitschy? Sure, but professional beers aren't always the best tasting so I was undeterred. What really sold me on this beer was the tagline at the very bottom of the label, "brewed behind the Cheddar Curtain." Ha!

This is the first Free State beer I've been able to give a real review. Until lately it's been difficult to get Free State anywhere other than at the brew pub in Lawrence. Earlier this year Free State started sending kegs into the Kansas City market and now they are finally starting to bottle. Ironically, this Free State found its way to me in a growler, something they've been doing for years. Nonetheless, I'm excited to give it real review and see how this Hefeweizen stacks up.

Schneider Weisse is one of the big name Bavarian Hefeweizen breweries. Hefeweizen is one of my all time favorite styles of beer, so getting this bottle of Bavarian Hefeweizen from one of the iconic breweries of the region means I have big expectations for it. I did a lot of drinking in Bavarian between 2006 and 2008 so I'm sure I've had at least one pint of Schneider Weisse... but I don't remember for certain. So, I'm treating this beer as my first Schneider Weisse. First impressions of this beer are a lot different than I was expecting....

Erdinger's Oktoberfest Weizen is a beer I hate to love. It's simple and seemingly uninspired, but it tastes great and is so easy to drink. There really isn't anything about this beer I don't like... It's a creamy wheat that has a light carbonated fizz that brings out the subtle citrus flavor in this beer. It's good, quite good, but it's also pretty boring. I don't mean to imply that I'm looking for a life changing experience every time I order a pint, but I like to have a good time. Erdinger's Oktoberfest seasonal Weizen is just underwhelming. I mean, seasonal beers should be something a little different. Oktoberfest comes but once a year so you should bring your A game (or A beer as the case may be). What it seems like Erdinger did here was just slap a slightly more Bavarian label on a regular Weizen.

I have a special place in my heart for Hefeweizens. There is just something about the combination of flavors that I find absolutely delicious. Wheat beers in general and usually pretty great but they like the flavor of a nice sour Hefeweizen. In my opinion, Brauerei Weihenstephan makes one of the best Hefeweizens out there. Even better than that they make a filtered version, the Kristall Weiss, which has the same great flavor but a super crisp and bubbly texture. I like the Kristall Weiss so much I decide to try the Weissbier Dunkel to see how else Weihenstephaner is trying to improve on the Hefeweizen. I must say that the Dunkel wasn't as much of a departure from the base Hefeweizen as I was expecting, and I'm glad. The Dunkel is darker, as the name would imply, but still retains the same basic flavor profile. This beer is a little sour, a little spicy and very reminiscent of a Hefeweizen.

Hofbräu, for many people, isn't just THE Munich beer but the quintessential German beer. This isn't without reason, they make a stellar product. Hofbräu isn't exactly a paragon of German purity, at least not since a Hard Rock Cafe and Seattle's Best coffee shop opened right next door to the Hofbräuhaus (..not to say anything about the Hofbräuhaus in Las Vegas). Remember though, the Hofbräuhaus became a tourist trap for a reason. Tourists didn't start flocking there for the lederhosen alone. Without a solid line-up of world class beers there simply wouldn't be a Hofbräuhaus and, one could agrue, no Oktoberfest. But I'm going off on a bit of tangent... back to the beer. Simple put, the Hofbräu Hefeweizen is the beer which all other Hefeweizens look up to. That isn't to say other beers can't be better, but this one has been top dog in Münich for the better part of 400 years. When you think about what comes to mind for most people when think about the quintessential American beer... usually it isn't something you'd equate with quality...

Often times, when you order a Hefeweizen at a restaraunt in the states you are actually served a wheat. Hefeweizen is a wheat, but to me, it also means having that crisp citrus flavor. The Hefeweizens I remember from Germany all had that barely sour but distinctly banana flavor, almost like a mild Belgian Wit. The Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen looks like a true German Hefe, smells like a German hefe and tastes just like it should. To me, this is what a standard hefeweizen should be. It should be cloudy, citrusy and a little tart/sour. Without that extra little fruity sourness, a hefeweizen is really just a wheat beer. Not that there is anything wrong with a plain wheat beer... but in my opinion, the hefeweizen is the pinnacle of what you can do with wheat under the Reinheitsgebot.