ERDINGER WEISSBIER
Erdinger Weissbrau
Germany, 5.3% ABV
The Bavarian town of Erding doesn’t have many things to shout about. Right in the middle of Bavaria’s high tech belt, known as the lederhosen and laptop zone, it’s most interesting fact is that it is home to the world’s largest wheat beer brewery. Erdinger is a top fermented beer, meaning the yeasts are active in warmer temperatures and begin acting on the brew as soon as they are added. It’s also a wheat beer, which means more carbon dioxide, less hops, and – according to Erdinger – more refreshment. Germans are renowned for their beer purity laws, which for a long time meant only barley hops and water could be used in the brewing process. Amazingly, wheat was only added to the list of sanctioned beer purity law ingredients in 1987. Before that date, brewers had to apply to – and fatten the wallets of – local bigwigs for licences to brew these notoriously fruity and strong beers. So if it’s a wheat beer, why is it referred to a weissbier, or white beer? Quite simply, and obviously, it’s both. The Erdinger Weissbrau brewery is the biggest wheat beer producer in the world, but Erdinger Weissbier is a fairly ordinary example of the style. Its flavour is middle-of-the-road, and hardly bursting wheat beer fruitfulness, producing a mellow clove flavour, subtly tinged with banana, with a vanilla wheat aftertaste. It does, however, represent a decent introduction to the world of wheat beers, offering super refreshment and is worryingly easy to drink on a hot day. GT
