Wednesday, January 2, 2013

1/2: Franziskaner Weissbier

After not liking yesterday's ale, I selected a favorite of mine for day two: a Hefeweiss.  In German, "Hefe" means yeast and "weiss" means white.  According to Ultimate, this style of southern German beer is also known as hefeweizen. "Weizen" is German for wheat.  MJ says, "This type of beer is often served with a morning snack of bread and veal sausages.  Bavarians call it a 'breakfast beer' because it is light, cleansing and digestible." Which reminds me of the line, "you can't drink beer all day, if you don't start in the morning."

As you can tell from the picture, this "white" beer is not white in color, but it a cloudy golden brown.  It is only called white, because it is much lighter in color than traditional Munich brown beers.  The cloudiness comes from the fact that the yeast is not filtered out after the brewing is completed. 

 
Where yesterday's ale was hoppy, today's hefeweiss is yeasty.  And the yeast is the star here.  Hefeweisses are some of my favorite beers, and to me most of them taste of lemon or other citrus fruits - because of the yeast, there is no fruit in these beers.  But Franziskaner's leaves a distinct banana taste in my mouth.  The combination of wheat and banana brings banana bread to mind.  Maybe it is not for everyone, but that just means more for me.  I rate it a 4; "I'd seek this out."  I have.  And I would gladly do it again.  If other Spaten Brewery selections are equally interesting and tasty, I could consider a pilgrimage to Munich.

Jim from Milwaukee

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