Know Your Beer - Hefeweizen & Wheat Beer

Know Your Beer will be a new feature on From the Beer Fridge. There are a ton of different types of beer and not everyone is exquisitely knowledgable about what they are, what to expect, etc... So, every week, we'll feature a different type of beer and make this a bit of an educational moment.


We'll start of with the Hefeweizen, a beer most often recognized for its cloudy unfiltered appearance. The name comes from German - "hefe" translating to yeast and "weizen" translating to wheat. So, these beers have a high concentrate of wheat in them (if you're allergic - be aware!). Hefeweizens use at least a 50:50 mix of wheat and malt, with some breweries going as high as 70% wheat.

The flavor tends to be on the sweet and fruity side, with a bit of clove, banana and vanilla. Lots of aroma, so get a nice whiff of the beer before you start slugging it down. These beers are very refreshing, especially when it's hot, so you're likely to see them a whole bunch during the summer months. Most Hefeweizen/wheat beers tend to be on the mid to high 5% range in terms of alcohol content.

Americans have popularized tossing in a lemon or orange wedge into the beer to add some more citrus flavor into it. Some folks like this, others don't, as the citrus changes the flavor of the beer. So, if the brewer wanted the beer to have citrus in it, they would have added into the mix from the get go. Don't even think about asking for this treatment in any true German establishment, as you'll probably get das boot in your face. As my Beer Buddy Larry has informed me, the lemon messed up the "schaum" (head) of the beer. In fact, the beer should take about 7 minutes from pour to your table, in order for the head to settle properly. You can expect to see these beers served in a tall weizen glass to best release the flavors and scents and let you experience them.

We've taken a look at some of these type of beers before on From The Beer Fridge, including: the Four Peaks Brewing Hefeweizen, Carver's Raspberry Wheat Beer, Breckenridge Brewing Agave Wheat, Santa Fe Brewing Hefeweizen, and the Prescott Brewing Alpine Wheat.

Other suggestions that haven't been reviewed yet, but are quality beers include: the Flying Dog In Heat Wheat, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen, Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen and Gordon Bierish Hefeweizen (which goes really well in OJ).

Road Trippin' - Carver Brewing in Durango, CO

Gah, I love Carver Brewing. The food is tasty, the beer is cold, the patio is great and the place has a chill atmosphere. And when I go to Durango, that's exactly what I want. So, as we wished G.I. Joe Lay good luck on his tour to Iraq, we figured this would be a fun place to go. Obviously, I partook of a few of Carver's beers.

I first got the La Plata Pilsner, as recommended by our server. We had just got done walking the main drag of Durango with a bunch of dogs, so I was hot and thirsty. A nice light beer sounded good, so glad the server suggested it. It was just that - light, little malty with a little spice. It went down quick. And that's all she wrote.

The second beer was the Cascade Canyon Cask IPA. I hadn't had a cask IPA before - no co2, no nitro, just hand pumped goodness. There was a great hoppy head on this beer...which got the best of me, when I went in for a smell and got it up the nose. Nothing like having hops in your sinuses... But a fine hop smell none the less. Even with the characteristic bitterness of an IPA, this beer was almost milky smooth with a mild sour aftertaste. Definitely a first for me and very enjoyable.

And before there is a chorus of "I'm Super! Thanks for Asking!!", this was a beer of Tina's that I took a few sips of. Carver Brewing has a Raspberry Wheat beer that is pink...really pink. They recommended that you add lemon to this brew, so it ended up adding a lot of lemon aroma to the beer. The raspberry wasn't overpowering, just adding a bit of that tart fruit flavor. The server said this was like 6.5% ABV, so he warned everyone that they go down smooth, but can creep up on ya.

Breckenridge Agave Wheat

The final beer at the Yardhouse I had was this very flavorable wheat beer from Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado. The Breckenridge Agave Wheat is definitely an American-style wheat beer with a light fruity taste that gets stronger with the aftertaste. Like expected, there is no bitter taste at all (according to their website, it's only got 9 IBUs. Compare this to the 90 IBUs in the 90 Minute IPA that was reviewed earlier!). If you dislike bitter beers (not the kinda that cause Bitter Beer Face), I think you'll really enjoy this brew.

A very crisp beer, it really hit the spot after a big ol' burger and the heavier (and much more alcoholic) beers that I had earlier. The Agave Wheat only has a 4.2% ABV, so you could polish off a number of these and not be a sluring mess. There is no need for a lemon or orange in this beer - I think the agave nectar that they use in the beer more than flavors it and I'm not sure if I would mess with that by dunking a lemon chunk in there. The coloring is oddly similar to my friend's Stone IPA, so not as light as you would expect from a wheat beer.

Breckenridge puts out some good beers and this brew follows suit. If you're looking for a good wheat beer, I would definitely recommend the Agave Wheat.