Bavaria’s unfiltered wheat ale — cloudy, effervescent, and dominated by yeast-derived notes of banana and clove. Made from at least 50% wheat malt, fermented warm with a distinctive weizen yeast that produces its signature ester/phenol profile. Typically 4.9–5.6% ABV, low bitterness, served in the iconic tall vase glass.
In the glass
Origin
Wheat beer likely arrived in Bavaria from Bohemia in the 12th or 13th century, but its modern Bavarian story starts with the Wittelsbach dynasty and the Degenberg family of Schwarzach. In 1520 the Degenbergs obtained from the Wittelsbachs the exclusive, perpetual privilege to brew wheat beer — a privilege granted in recognition of vassal services and, at the time, thought to be inconsequential. Wheat brewing turned out to be far more profitable than the Wittelsbachs expected. In 1567 an unhappy Duke Albrecht V outlawed wheat beer throughout the rest of his realm, calling it “a useless drink that neither nourishes nor gives strength, but only encourages drunkenness” — while still being obliged to exempt the Degenbergs. In 1602 Hans Sigmund of Degenberg died without an heir, the Wittelsbach Duke Maximilian I reclaimed the rights, and wheat brewing became a Bavarian royal monopoly. For roughly two centuries every innkeeper in Bavaria was required to pour weissbier sourced from the ducal brewery network.
The monopoly began to unwind in 1798 as demand for weissbier collapsed in the face of rising lager quality; the Wittelsbachs permitted monasteries and burgher breweries to brew weissbier, and later offered the rights for sale or lease. None of them prospered. By 1872 the dukes sold out entirely, with the rights purchased by a Munich brewmaster, Georg Schneider I, who with his son Georg Schneider II acquired the Weisses Brauhaus — Munich’s oldest wheat beer brewery — and founded G. Schneider & Sohn. The style continued to decline through the first half of the 20th century; by the 1950s and early 1960s weissbier had fallen below 3% of Bavarian beer production, and most breweries had abandoned it. The Schneider family kept making it regardless. Around 1965, for reasons never quite explained, a sharp shift in consumer taste turned weissbier’s trajectory around. It has grown steadily ever since and now holds more than a third of the Bavarian beer market.
The Schneider brewery itself moved its operations to Kelheim after WWII bombing destroyed the Munich facility in 1944; the family has owned it continuously since 1872 and still produces what is widely considered the reference hefeweizen.
Notes
“Hefe” means yeast and “weizen” means wheat — the unfiltered yeast-in-bottle presentation is part of the style definition. The beer is poured into a tall vase-shaped glass by leaving a small amount in the bottle, swirling to rouse the yeast, and topping the pour. The lemon wedge that became ubiquitous with American hefeweizen service in the 1980s is not a Bavarian tradition — the citrus aroma overwhelms the yeast character and the oils quickly kill the trademark foam. German law requires any beer labeled hefeweizen, weizenbier, or weissbier to be made with at least 50% malted wheat; most commercial examples use 60–70% wheat.
Defining examples
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier·Schneider Weisse·Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier·Ayinger Bräuweisse·Live Oak Hefeweizen