Beer of the Weekend #83: Hacker-Pschorr Weisse

My football deficiency is acting up again. I’m doing a little pre-sampling legwork and have the Titans-Cowboys game on TV. Friday Night Fights is on hiatus this week (next Friday is, sadly, the season finale), so there’s nothing better to watch until the Dodgers game starts. When it does, though, I’ll keep watching this money rotted, corporate infested, ego-driven excuse for football until the final whistle.

Less than two weeks, man. I can hold on. I can do it.

The beer this weekend is Hacker-Pschorr Weisse brewed by the Hacker-Pschorr Brewery of Munich, Germany.


Tonight I’m introducing my Hacker-Pschorr glass to BotW. I bought it at The Glass House in Iowa City to have a smaller weizen glass for 12-ounce wheat brews. There’s nothing wrong with drinking hefes from pint glasses, but I’d rather do things properly. After all, I’m a beer connoisseur. However, I’m a little peeved it only holds 300 ml. (On a side note, how the fuck do you style metric units? Should it be 300ml or 300 ml? The HPW carrier uses the “# ml” style, and so will I). Normal 12-ounce bottles are 355 ml, and even Euro-style bottles are 330 ml. Why couldn’t it be large enough to hold an entire bottle? It kind of defeats the purpose of a glass. But whatever; there’s nothing wrong with leaving a little beer in the bottle to be poured in later.

Here’s something I’m worried about tonight: the HPW labels feature a born on date: 2/09. This stuff has been sitting around since February?! Holy shit. This brings up a good question, something I’ve never found a good answer for: how long does beer keep? Based on the quick Google research I did, each beer has it’s own drinkability window. It depends on hoppiness and alcohol content. The more hops and alcohol, the longer the beer keeps. According to the Alström Bros, the founders of BeerAdvocate:

higher-octane beers like Barley Wines, many Belgian Ale styles, German Bocks, hefty Porters and Stouts, etc., do not go “bad,” for the most part. These brews tend to gain character with aging for many months, even years. Highly hopped brews also tend to benefit from a longer shelf life due to the preserving quality in the hop oils.

Poorly made lagers — the Budmilloors of the world — are only good for four to six months. HPW is a higher quality brew, so I should be fine. Nonetheless, I’m a little anxious.

Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. I was gladly surprised HPW came in 12-ounce bottles. I would have expected the European style 330 ml (11.2-ounce) bottles.

Appearance: Poured into a 300 ml weizen glass. True to style, it poured a cloudy wheat color. There is moderate carbonation evident at the bottom. Two fingers of thick white head formed and dissipated slowly to a half finger cap.

Smell: Enticing sweet banana and cloves. There’s also crisp lemon citrus and I caught a faint scent of strawberry. It also has a heavy yeast presence, making it very bread-like.

Taste: Much like the smell. Smooth banana sweetness is balanced well with clove spice. More bread and yeast, but no strawberry.

Drinkability: High quality drinking. My only regret is not getting the half liter bottles.

Fun facts about HPW:

-Price: $8.99/sixer at Beach BevMo!. Absentmindedly, I forgot to list the price last week, so I’ve decided to make it the first fun fact from now on.

-Serving temperature: 50º-53ºF.

-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.

-Food pairings: In
Beers of the World, David Kenning recommends “Munich white veal sausages with mustard and pretzels.” I think he means weisswurst served the traditional way.

-The Hacker Brewery was founded in 1417. In 1813 it became Hacker-Pschorr when Joseph Pschorr married Therese Hacker.

-Famous German composer Richard Strauss was the son of Franz Strauss and Josephine Pschorr (of the Pschorr family who owned the brewery). According to Beers of the World, Strauss “dedicated his opera
Der Rosenkavalier to the brewery as a mark of gratitude for the financial support it gave him during his early career in music.”

The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.

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