Maisel’s Weissbier. Today’s post is about Weissbier or Wheat Beer. Studying for the WSET level 2 Beer qualification required trying a lot of different styles of beer and quite a few I had never even heard of. One of the things I found most difficult was the different styles of wheat beer. Fortunately, there a few key characteristics to help distinguish between each different style.
Keg Maisel’s Weissbeir
| Style | Hefe-Weissbier or Cloudy Wheat Beer |
| Flavour | Bread from the wheat and yeast, bananas and cloves |
| Food Pairing | Traditional Bavarian dishes such as Bratwurst sausages and roasted pork knuckle |
| Country of Origin | Germany |
| Malts | |
| Yeast | In house strain |
| Hops | Bavarian |
| Alcohol | 5.2 % |
Notes
Maisel’s Weissbier was awarded a world championship at the 2018 World Beer Awards. The Maisel company has twice won National Brewery of the Year at the prestigious European Beer Star competition.
What is Weissbier?
Weissbier is a German beer brewed with a large proportion of wheat to air-dried malted barley using top-fermenting yeast. It can be filtered which have a crisper taste or unfiltered which is called Hefe-Weissbier which has characteristic banana and clove flavours from the yeast. Weissbier’s have a low level of bitterness.
Witbiers are Belgium wheat beers brewed with coriander seeds and orange peel which give the finished beer citrus and herbal notes. Bière blanche is the French name for wheat beer. American wheat beers are less yeast flavoured with more doughy bread like wheat characteristics with some citrusy hop flavours.
A little bit about Maisel Brewery
Maisel is a family-owned German based brewery. It was founded in Bayreuth in 1887 by brothers Eberhardt and Hans Maisel. Today the company is one of the largest producers of Weisse beer in Germany. The brewery uses a tradition production technique involving a secondary fermentation before being bottled or put in kegs. This process is known as Bayerische Edelreifung or Bavarian noble maturation and allows the beers produced this way to develop more complex flavour profiles and a smooth carbonation with very fine bubbles.
Maisel’s Weisse Bier was first produced in 1955. It is made following the Reinheitsgebot or purity law and uses only premium malt, Bavarian hops and their own yeast culture. The water is natural spring water sourced from the nearby Fichtel Mountains. Today the brewery produces a clear wheat beer known as Kristall, an alcohol-free version, as well as Dunkel and Pils beers. Since 2012 Jeff Maisel, a fourth-generation family member, has produced a range of craft ales including an IPA and barrel aged beers.
Tasting Maisel’s Weissbier
I tried Maisel’s Weissbier in one of Jersey’s independent bars on a warm late Spring Day. I find wheat beers very refreshing, perfect when your have been out walking along the coastline. Weissbier is served in attractive glasses, and it has an attractive reddish amber hue with a tight head. You get lots of pleasant yeast on aromas alongside ripe banana and a touch of spicy clove.
Maisel’s has a nice mouth feel with very fine bubbles. There is plenty of tangy fruit flavours, bread dough and even a mild nuttiness with a touch of sweetness and spice. There is no real bitterness on the palate and a clean, dry finish. Drank on its own in the sun Maisel’s goes down a treat and because of its low bitterness and relatively mild acidity will pair well with lots of traditional German food as well as creamy and soft cheeses, salads, roasted vegetables and grilled or baked fish.
The Caskaway 
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