Weiss is nice
Weissbier
Our Blau&Weiss Weissbier is in the style of a traditional Bavarian wheat beer. It offers all the weiss flavours, like banana and clove, that are derive from the unique yeast strain. Krafty’s version contains approx. 55% wheat malt and 45% barley malts. It is lightly hopped.
Bavarian Weissbier (white beer) or hefeweizen (which simply translates to yeast wheat) is a very unique beer that is not often brewed outside Bavaria. The Krafty Braumeister is one of the few breweries who has taken the style on in the UK. We have created an effervescent palatable beer with a sweet light maltiness. It is a summertime favourite, a light refreshing ale that is a great thirst quencher on a summer day. It is also a perfect beer for those few who have never tried beer or tell us they don’t like beer. Annabel Smith, in-house Beer Sommelier at Cask Marque, writes in an article, “If there is one beer any novice should try first, it’s a wheat beer. Why? Because it immediately dispels the preconceptions that all beer is brown and bitter! This is a beer which is ideal for someone who loves Champagne or Prosecco.”
It is said that even Napoleon called the wheat beers of Bavaria “the champagne of the north”. And in fact, it was a drink for the nobles for more than 250 years in the Bavarian region. Only when they lost interest in the style was the brewing license sold to a private brewer in 1872. The spot where the world famous Hofbräuhaus beer hall now sits in Munich was once the Weissbier-Brauhaus. Weissbier had his renaissance in the 1960s and in the German Federal State of Bavaria it is nowadays nearly as popular as lager beers.
How to drink your Blau&Weiss
The traditional glassware for Weissbier is a called a ‘vase’, and it very much looks like one. The glasses typically have narrow bases that open up into larger bowls. In the UK they come usually in size of a pint (568ml) which turns out to be handy because a bottle of 500ml Weissbier poured into such a vase has a lovely appearance with great head retention.
Drink your Blau&Weiss chilled from the fridge. Pour about 450ml out of the bottle into the vase. Stop, swirl the bottle gently, and then pour the rest in. You will see a yeasty haze crawl into your glass. That makes it a perfect Weissbier, just as it would be served in a Bavarian Beer Garden!
In Bavaria, Weissbier is seen as a perfect breakfast pairing with weisswurst (white sausage) and pretzels. Weisswurst is not easy to find in the UK so here are some other food suggestions that make delicious pairings:
Cured pork with potato salad
Roast chicken and pork
Schnitzel
Richer seafoods such as scallops and lobster
Hot smoked salmon
A hot curry
Thai food dishes.
Krafty’s tip: on your next visit to Aldeburgh, try Eliza’s Thai food in DP’s Bar with a Blau&Weiss. It can’t get better than that!