Where's The Wheat?

There is nothing better than cracking open a delicious wheat beer on a warm and humid weekend afternoon. The next beer review will be of a wheat beer, so I wanted to lay out the groundwork of this type of beer to familiarize ourselves with the components and the variations.

Previously, we determined that the most common starch used in beer is barley. As you can guess, wheat is included as a starch source in a wheat beer. The methodology is the same, roast some wheat to bring out its natural sugars and 'TaDa' you have malted wheat. In most wheat beers, there still is some malted barley that can range anywhere between 30-70% of the total starch.



Wheat malt contains approximately 14-18% more protein than barley malt. Due to the higher percentage of protein found in wheat malt, there are a couple of things that you should immediately notice about a wheat beer. These are Head, Haze and Mouth feel.

1) Head: The amount of white frothy goodness at the top of the glass, called head. The head will be very frothy and will generally last until you are almost finished with your beer.

2) Haze: Due to the protein, unfiltered wheat beers will have a haze to them. If you hold up a book, you will have a more difficult time reading the text through the beer.

3) Mouth Feel: Wheat beers will have a full, silky mouth feel. So, it doesn't taste like drinking a glass of water, but has a little bit more body to it. This is due to the proteins creating a delicious body to the beverage. Whenever you read a review about beer and hear the term "Mouth Feel" it just means how thin or thick the beer feels in your mouth. A "silky" mouth feel is very common for wheat beers. When you are drinking a beer, keep in mind how the beer feels in your mouth. This takes a little practice, so I recommend doing this exercise at least once a night. . . I mean, practice does make perfect!




The Most Common Varieties of Wheat Beer

-Witbier-

The witbiers (Dutch: white beer) are based on the Belgian style of beer. This means that there will be typical "Belgian" flavors of coriander and orange peel in a witbier. The Belgian beers typically have a 'spicy' quality to them. What makes the witbier different than the weissbier is that they typically use unmalted wheat, oats or barley. They also have a variety of spices that are used in them as well.

I have included a few Witbiers that I recommend:
- Blanche De Bruxelles
- Allagash White


-Weissbier-

The weissbier (German: white beer) refers to several different types of wheat beers. The weissbier types include:

- Hefeweizen
- Kristalweizen (the exact same beer as a hefeweizen, but is filtered)
- Dunkleweizen (dark hefeweizen)
- Weizenbock

The yeast used in a weissbier typically gives the beer a distinct flavor, such as: clove-like, vanilla, fruity esters and a banana flavor. Here is a list of some German style Hefeweizen beers that I recommend you give a try:

- Ayinger Bräu-Weisse (Germany)
- Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier (Germany)
- Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse (Germany)
- Julius Echter Hefe-weisse (Germany)
- Paulaner Hefe-weizen (Germany)
- Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weissbier (Germany

-American Wheat-

The typical American Wheat beer will use the same brewing process, but will uses a different yeast strain. The American Wheat beer is a wonderful introduction to craft beer, because the flavors are not overwhelming to a new beer drinkers tastes.


So there you have it! An introduction to the wheat beer. Stay tuned for the first beer review of a wheat beer, chosen by you.