Beer of the Weekend #79: Erdinger Hefe-Weizen

Back in California. I really didn’t want to come back, but I had to. And to think I was once California dreamin’.

Oh well. At least there’s beer to keep me happy.

The beer this weekend is Erdinger Hefe-Weizen brewed by Erdinger Weissbräu of Erding, Germany.


Frankly, Erdinger Hefe-Weizen wasn’t my first choice tonight. I wanted to get Franziskaner Hefeweizen Dark, but the BevMo! on Beach was all out. I got there earlier than usual, so I may have missed their afternoon restocking. Embarrassingly, I’ve been a victim of premature beer buying before. About four o’clock the beer guys replenish the caches of brew. If I’m too early and my first choice isn’t there, I’m shit out of luck. Time for Plan B. Today, though, there was no Plan B, so I had to improvise with little information.

I needed a hefe, but I wanted to go cheap; I didn’t feel like paying $4 a bottle for Schneider Weisse (though I will soon). All I knew about Erdinger was that someday I would try it. Why not make today that day? I bought six, came home, put them in my fridge, and hours later read the BA reviews. Although it reviewed decently, it’s the worst rated German hefeweizen I’ve seen on BA: B- for all user reviews, and the Alström brothers give it a C+. Shit. Well, we’ll see what The Quiet Man thinks of it.

Serving type: Six 16.9-ounce bottles.

Appearance: Poured a cloudy, tinted lemonade straw yellow. Three fingers of head rose quickly and slowly dissipated to a thick lacing.

Smell: The aromas are subtle for a hefeweizen. I have to swirl and swirl and swirl the glass to get anything noticeable. No bananas, but there is faint apple cider and very subdued cloves. There’s much more of a barnyard lager scent than that potent, heavenly wheat perfume.

Taste: As the smell goes, so does the taste — at least the taste there is. It’s dull and bread-like, though there are faint undertones of apple, strawberry, and bubblegum. But it’s mostly grain. The mouthfeel is a wheat, but the taste is like a lager. Is this Erdinger Leicht?

Drinkability: It’s not offensive, and it’s beer. There you go.

Fun facts about Erdinger Hefe-Weizen:

-Serving temperature: 50-53ºF.

-Alcohol content: 5.3 percent ABV.

-Food pairings:
Beers of the World recommends “An appetizing aperitif.” Amazingly, that’s even more vague than what BA suggests: German cuisine, tangy cheese (Brick, Edam, Feta), salad (yay!), and meat (poultry, fish, and shellfish).

-Erdinger Weissbräu exclusively brews wheat beer. They offer nine varieties: Weissbier, Schneeweisse (Snow White, for the winter months; available November-February), Pikantus (a dark bock beer), Dunkel, Kristall, Urweisse (apparently available only in Bavaria January 1st-February 1st), Champ (“brewed in such a way that it can be drunk straight from the bottle”), Alkoholfrei (Non-Alcoholic), and, sadly, Leicht (Light). My kind of brewery.

-That kind of wheat brew diversity gives Erdinger Weissbräu the right to claim the title as world’s biggest wheat brewery. It also happens to be one of the oldest. It was founded in 1886 (young by European standards) by a local Erding man named Johann Kienle.

-Quirks about the bottle: the golden label on the front says, “Mit Feiner Hefe. In Der Flasche Gereift,” which Google Translator can’t accurately decipher. On the back label is, “Erdinger is brewed all-naturally, using traditional bottle-fermentation, never pasteurized. Thank you for enjoying Erdinger, the World’s #1 Hefe-Weizen.”

-Besides the trusted emdash, the most badass text symbol in the world is, in my opinion, the German Eszett: ß. However, I have no clue how it’s used. I thought it was used in place of a double-s, but apparently it is much more complicated. A beer example: some breweries use “weißbier,” like Paulaner does on my half liter weizen glass, and others “weissbier,” like Erdinger. Looks like I’ll need to consult Zee German.


The Quiet Man’s grade: C+.

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