Schneider Weisse: Tap 7

It is a well known fact that the more one performs an action the better he or she will get. This is also true when it comes to cooking, baking and anything that involves a recipe. The more that you make that recipe the better it is likely to come out. You may be asking yourself, “why is he talking about recipes getting better with time?” While this is because the next beer that I am going to review is brewed by one of the oldest breweries in Germany. The beer that is brewed at Schneider Weisse is brewed with the same recipes that it had back than when Georg Schneider founded the brewery.

Schneider-Weisse is a pretty unique brewery because it brews wheat beers and nothing else.  When brewing its beers they use barley, hops, yeast, and wheat malts.  The brewing process for these wheat beers take place in open tubs and use open fermentation brewing techniques.

This beer will pour to a dark golden color and will have notes of various ingrediants. Of course when you open the beer you will initially smell the wheat malts that this beer is brewed with. However, if you take the time to try and distinguish the other ingrediants within this beer you will get the hints of banana , cloves and nutmeg.  With that said, you will put this beer in what would be considered the Hefeweissen category of wheat beer.  As you take your first sip you will also notice the same hints of those ingrediants. When I took the sip in order to review this beer, I first noticed the sweetness of the wheat malts. That was followed by the hint of banana. I found that as the beer warmed a little the banana became easier to notice. The beer ended with the taste of the spices in this beer which include the nutmeg and the cloves that this beer is brewed with. Depending on your palette you may notice those in a different order.

This beer is definitely one that everyone will enjoy. It is a wheat beer so like most of the wheat beer there is really no bitterness to this beer at all. This beer is only about 5.2 ABV, so if you are an experienced beer drinker, feel free to have more than one. This beer is also very versatile when it comes to food pairings. Some of the food I would pair this beer with is sausage, shellfish, pork and poultry.

Golden Road Hefeweizen

When you think about Hefeweizen you normally think about the hints of cloves and bananas that you taste. Well with this Hefeweizen you will get a little more than just the banana and clove taste. You will also get the added benefit of having the taste of the wheat beers of the United States. Combine the two and you have the mouth full of deliciousness brewed by Golden Road Brewery in Los Angeles, California.

This beer is a very complex beer that has many different taste and aromas through out the entire drinking process. When you first pour this beer you will notice that like any other hefeweizen or wheat beer it will pour to a cloudy golden color with a medium sized, sustainable head. When I first poured this beer  the aromas of the cloves and citrus really stood out to me. The citrus that this beer is brewed with are Oranges and Lemons.  This beers is also brewed with cloves and bananas as is tradition with your Hefeweizens. You will taste the clove and banana after the taste of the malts in this beer. After you get past the malts, the cloves and the bananas, you are left with the citrus of the orange and the lemons. The cloves add a nice spice feature, the banana will add fruit feature and the lemons and oranges will leave you feeling refreshed and wanting more of this beer. This beer does have a combinations of German Hops in it, however you will not notice then very much at all. This beer has very little bitterness to it, 15 on the IBU, and this allows the beer to go down incredibly smooth.

If you are looking to pair this with a meal, going on personal experience, this beer pair really well with a shell fish or lobster. The citrus in this beer will really compliment these types of dishes. This beer will also pair well with poultry and cheeses, and goes really well with a cheese such as Feta. It is recommended that you serve this beer between 45-50 degrees. Trust me, you will love this beer but don’t be afraid to have more than one because this beer is only around 4.6% ABV. If you love wheat beers and hefeweizen don’t be afraid to try the combination of the two and go ahead and try this great beer.

Ballast Point: Wahoo Wheat

The next beer was brewed by a couple men that combined their talents in order to create some great beer. One of the founders, Jack White, began brewing beer in his back yard and eventually got to the point where he was determined that his beer was good enough to sell. Even though he became really good at it, he realized that it wasn’t very easy to get the supplies and ingrediants that are need when a person is brewing beer. So that is when he opened a store called Home Brew Mart.  As Home Brew Mart began to grow Jack needed a little extra helped and that is when he found Yuseff. Together they continued to run  the store and run the brewery out of a back room within Home Brew Mart. This is when Ballast Point Brewing was founded. For the last 15 years they have continued to grow and make great beers like their ” Wahoo Wheat”.

To start off with, Wahoo Wheat is brewed with unmalted wheat, barley and oats. Along with the oats, they add orange peel and coriander during the brewing process. What you gets is a hazy, off yellow or lemon colored beer that is full of deliciousness.  When you first smell the aroma you will notice the smell of the unmalted wheat , coriander and get hints of the citrus such as the orange peels.When you go to take your first sip you will notice the taste of the wheat, and yeast. As you finish taking that sip the hints of the orange peal and the  spiciness of the coriander will cover your palette. This beer is very easy to drink. There is hardly any bitterness to it ( this beer falls around 20 on the IBU scale), which is the case with most wheat beers and the citrus in the beer make this beer very refreshing. There is only about 4% alcohol in this beer so you will not get a heavy taste of that as your drink this beer.

If you are having this beer with a meal it can be paired with many different items and be drank throughout the meal and not just with the entree. This beer pairs  really well with salads and cheeses if you are having that as an appetizer. The best cheeses to pair with this beer are Pepper Jack or something such as Feta Cheese. When it comes to your entree this beer  pairs well with poultry, shellfish and other types of fish. The preferred temperature to drink this beer at is between 45 and 50 degrees F. If you are looking to drink this from something other than the bottle some recommendations are a Pint or Pilsner glass.

The story of Ballast Point Brewing is one that I imagine myself going through in the years ahead. I had started with the intent of getting to know about different beers and passing on the information to other people. Since I have started I am realizing that I would like to begin to brew beer  and use the knowledge that I am gathering about the different beers that I have had. Then once I get good  enough and I feel my beer is good enough, hopefully I will be able to market it and begin a brewing company myself.

 

 

Franziskaner Hefe Weissbier

I have reviewed multiple wheat beers within my blog so far and I’m sure that there will be more in the future. However, each one is different in its one right. They each have thier own taste and individual characteristics. This next one that I’m going to review is one that is imported from Germany.

 For a little history of the company, it has history all the way back until 1363. They have made some of the most popular beers in Germany and now that popularity is expanding to the international market.One of the most popular is the Hefe Weissbier or ” wheat beer” is brewed with wheat malt, barely malt and hops. Franziskaner brewery use top fermentation during the brewing of this beer. what that means, is that when the beer is fermenting the yeast settles at the top instead of at the bottom of the container that its being fermented in.

As with just about every other wheat beer it poors to a cloudy deep golden to almost orange color. The smell of the malt is pretty distinct with a hint of clove. Even though it is brewed with hops in it, when drinking this beer you can hardly tell. There is very little to no bitterness to this beer which allows this beer to go down really smooth. When you sip on this beer you will notice that it has a tangy side to it, more than most wheat beers that I have tried and that is what makes this beer unique, yet so good. The alcohol content of this beer is around 5%. You can find this beer in a lot of supermarkets and in recent years a lot of bars and pubs have had this beer on tap. If you like wheat beers I  highly encourage you all to try this one. I am positive that you will love this just as much as I do. Its a great beer to drink while listening to some vintage records.