Cloudy With a Chance of Reinheitsgebot - the Weissbier

Originally Posted on Examiner.com by John Pomeroy

While a growing trend in the American Craft Brewing world seems to indicate a preference for insanely hopped, IBU-crazy India Pale Ales, and brews made with chocolate, peaches, coffee, seemingly ad infinitum, there are those who intend specifically to brew just beer. While the phrase 'just beer' might at first seem to imply the beer is in some way diminuitive, pioneers such as Samuel Adams seek to stretch rebelliously against the boundaries of even 'just beer'.

In Bavaria, in April of 1516, the German Beer Purity Law, or Reinheitsgebot, stated that all beers must be made with nothing more than water, barley, & hops. Samuel Adams has recently disclosed that they've partnered with Weihenstephan in order to create a beer which they hope to release in Spring of 2010. With this beer, the companies intend to push the boundaries of what is commonly perceived to be the limitations of Reinheitsgebot, while at the same time adhering to this law, creating a beer with an ABV of 10%, with Champagne-like qualities.

Simply because a beer is fairly strict to the laws set forth in Bavaria nearly five-hundred years ago, however, does not mean that it cannot possess unique qualities, nor does it make a beer taste "commonplace". The wheat beer style in general, which has been popularized by American brands such as Samuel Adams, that produce Samuel Adams Hefeweizen, continues to thrive. These brands are essentially beacons that draw attention to the style, enough so that a consumer might delve deeper and glean more from the World of Weiss than they originally intended.

Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss, brewed by Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, is a beer which proudly claims to be dutiful upholders of the German Beer Purity Laws. It's often seen served in a 1 pint, 9 fl oz bottle featuring the image of an imbibing Franciscan Monk, illustrated in 1935 by a Munich artist named Ludwig Hohlwein, to honor that which the brewery's original incarnation in 1363 was named for.

There is a traditional method to pouring the beer which was designed, apparently, to better preserve and accentuate flavors in the wheat beer. The method involves trying to procure as little head as possible, and is humorously demonstrated in this video, showing a robot programmed by two Bavarian university students to "perfectly" pour a Weissbier:

The amyl acetate, which is a fermentation by-product prevalent in the style, adds a very detectable trace of something very banana-like in the beer, which becomes particularly prominent as the brew's temperature increases as it sits unrefrigerated in the glass. Its cloudy, nearly opaque appearance caused by the wheat, gives mystery to the brew; a mystery solved only by sipping.

Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss might be traditional in its production, in its packaging, and in its labeling, but what stands out about this beer is that inside there is an acclaimed, well-rated beer worth drinking, retailing at little more than $3.00 for a 1pt 9 fl oz bottle.