Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week": Erdinger Hefe-Weisse

How many of us grew up with the Löwenbräu jingle ingrained in our memory? Remember the lyric, “The beer we'll pour must say something more, somehow?” Truer words were never spoken. Unfortunately, those words were also used to sell one waste of hops and barley (well, up until 2002, when Löwenbräu left its distribution agreement with Miller and started exporting directly to the States). Even though the past sixteen hours have given us a break in the weather, this is the season to enjoy a good weiss beer. That is, after you’ve had a lot of water.

When ordering a weiss beer, casual drinkers most likely opt for Hacker-Pschorr or Paulaner, based on name recognition. But the world’s largest wheat beer brewery is the Erdinger Weißbräu. Records for its construction date back to 1886. Today it is one of Germany’s largest privately-owned breweries, as well as the world’s largest wheat beer brewery, producing in excess of 1.3 million hectoliters of tasty wheat nectar.

The Erdinger hefe-weisse is a very subtle weiss. At 5.3 percent alcohol by volume, it pours a golden straw color, with a cloudy haze from the yeast. Topped with a cream-colored head, this beer has no lacing sticking to the glass. Unlike Hacker-Pschorr, Erdinger doesn’t attack your palate. Sure, you pick up the requisite notes of citrus, spices, banana and cardamom associated with a weiss, but Erdinger has a more elegant palate. This is a weiss made for sipping, staring out a window at the rain-slicked streets, as the sweat running down the glass matches the rhythm of the storm outside. The beer we'll pour must say something more, indeed.

Sam’s has Erdinger hefe-wiesse listed at $13.99 for a twelve-pack, so you folks clamoring for samples can get off your duffs and buy it, like Chicagoist did. Just in time for your two-martini lunch, Erdinger hefe-weisse is Chicagoist’s “beer of the week.”