BJCP Beer Styles: Weisse Bier
The Beer Judge Certification Program sets out style guidelines for 120 beers and is used in competitions. It is useful for beer drinkers as it allows us to understand what may be in our glass. I am going to investigate all of the styles listed in the BJCP guidelines, beginning with Weisse Bier
Weisse Bier Vital Statistics
Weise Bier is category 10A in the BJCP guidelines. A Weisse Bier is a German wheat beer. We should be expecting high carbonation, a dry finish, and characteristics of wheat. This creates a fluffy, full mouthfeel. The key thing about a Weisse Bier is the fermentation characteristics of banana and clove.
Important statistics for a Weisse Bier are:
ABV range is 4.3 to 5.6.
IBU range is 8 to 15.
SRM range is 2 to 6 so it's quite light - pale straw to gold.
Weisse Bier Classic Example – Augustiner Weissebier
For my tasting, I picked Augustiner Weisse Bier. The aroma is light with grainy wheat notes and some lemon. There's no hop aroma, but it has strong fruity banana esters and moderate clove phenols. I got a faint bit of bubblegum.
The appearance is gold with only a very slight haze. I'd like a bit more for a wheat beer. But it did have a thick, moussey, long-lasting white head characteristic of the style.
On the taste, it had grainy wheat and it was slightly sweet. There was no hop flavour and no bitterness. It had moderately strong banana and clove flavours, and it was full and well rounded. For mouthfeel I found that it had high carbonation and was effervescent, which is excellent for the style. It had a fluffy mouthfeel – this is a new word that I picked up and I love it! It is a full beer with medium body.
I found this a pleasure to drink. I'd like a bit more clove to balance out the sweet banana and a little bit more haze. Overall it was very enjoyable to drink.
Weisse Bier Comparison –
Weisse by Neptune
I then compared this style to Neptune's Weisse Bier. Now interestingly this has been hopped with Huell Melon hops, which is going to make it slightly different.
Again it had light, grainy wheat malt aroma, but I got a little bit of grass. There was also very light banana esters and some melon. Spicy clove phenols were quite prominent. I got a little bit of vanilla and quite a lot of melon from those hops.
This Weisse Bier is almost clear. It had a thick moussey white head which is excellent for the style. Again, I've got grainy wheat malt and the flavour is very light tasting. There is no bitterness, but some grassy hop flavour. Maybe that's coming from the Huell Melon hops. I found moderate clove, very light banana, but more melon. It also has a lovely dry finish.
I found this Weisse Bier to have a medium-light body - it was slightly thinner than the Augustiner with high carbonation, effervescent again. This is excellent for the style. The Neptune Weisse has a light fluffy body.
I really enjoyed this beer. I don't think it is a characteristic version of a Weisse Bier, however, it is still excellent to drink. The addition of the Huell Melon hops really added another level to this version.
Make sure you are following Love Beer Learning on Instagram and Facebook to see the rest of my investigations into the BJCP styles. And let me know in the comments what your favourite Weisse Bier is – I’d like to try it!
