Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss

Germany is known for its wheat beer brewers, and naturally several of their brewers send a lot of their beer stateside. Americans interested in expanding their beer horizon past the standard fizzy lagers tend to move in one of two directions: Guinness, or wheat beer. While Blue Moon (a MillerCoors product, incidentally) seems to be on tap everywhere, more and more those same bars might offer a more authentic wheat beer experience, and this week’s beer is often an option.

A few weeks back I talked about the Weihenstephaner Hefeweiss; this week I’ve got the Hefe-Weiss from Franziskaner, now merged with Spaten another of the large Munich breweries.

As with all German wheat beers, the Bavarian yeast strains used in Franziskaner will throw a lot of banana esters and clove phenols, banana at higher fermentation temperatures, clove at lower temps. Most wheat beer brewers in Germany have had centuries to dial in their process to ensure there’s little batch-to-batch variation, so each has its signature flavors and aromas. Franziskaner seems to have chosen a higher ferment temp, evidenced by the tasting notes for this week.

In honor of Father’s Day, I pulled out my Dad’s beer stein that he brought back from a business trip to Germany decades ago. (For visual purposes, I also used a small taster glass.) Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss pours a predictably hazy, deep orange-amber, which starts with a thick, rocky, creamy head, which you can’t see in the picture, but rest assured it sticks around long enough to force a several-minute pour from bottle to stein. I’d have to describe the aroma first and foremost as “bready,” with hints of banana, but no other fruit or herb. It’s a little disappointing, really, as I wanted a more complex, interesting aroma to pick apart, but this is what Franziskaner has been brewing for some 650 years, so it’s really not something they’re about to change for me.

At least it tastes more “authentically” German. I get overripe banana mixed with the cookie-dough quality derived from German malts like Munich and Vienna malt. This maltiness contributes to an overall full-bodied sensation, even though this is one effervescent beer. It’s a touch sweet, but that works well. Incidentally, clove is a non-factor in this hefeweiss. It’s just not there, not even appearing in the finish, which is quite clean, maybe too clean, with the malt pretty much clearing a path through my palate all the way through.

This half-liter bottle was also a gift, but I’ve seen it in beer stores around the city for $3 or so. It’s also on tap at a wide range of locales, from German beer-centric restaurants to “regular” bars with a few more interesting taps than the usual big-name beers. While I don’t search out wheat beers in general, when I do, I like to find a reliable one like Franziskaner’s. It might be a bit less interesting and complex than I’d prefer, but it’s a predictably tasty choice, and sometimes, you just want something you can count on, and Franziskaner delivers that every time.