Kapuziner Weissbier
Kulmbacher Brauerei AG

4.5/5  rDev +10.8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

When I saw this hard to find hefeweizen in a 5L mini-keg I had to try it. Loads of banana with less pronounced clove, very cloudy with huge amount of yeast sludge in the bottom of the can which can be resuspended with effort. Less watery than the other commonly available examples, this is one of the best German hefeweizen available in the US.

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3.83/5  rDev -5.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Standard hefeweizen, much more on the clove and banana side of the spectrum. Has that bubblegum wheat and bright malt work to support. Kind of dry in the feel with abruptly crisp aftertaste.

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4.03/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Draft, served in branded 0.5l Weizen glass.

It’s beautiful and hard to imagine a more stylistically perfect appearance than this hazed medium gold beer. The bubble artistry is probably the real attraction in its fluffy, shade of white, cloud-like Head. It only suffers in a surprising light lace.

Chalky, banana, hint of clove, and not overpowering in any way.

More spot on banana and clove flavors both complete the style picture and blend seamlessly with a robust bitterness. This beer is regulated so well from the esters to the level of sweetness.

It has what I call a matte mouthfeel; a combination of yeast and bitterness that lays on the tongue and sometimes on your teeth. Carbonation battles this well and again achieves balance, leaving no objectionable aftertaste.

This is a very good Hefeweizen.

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3.67/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Got this one at the Mitra in Maarssen

From a 50cl swing top bottle into a weissen glass

APPEARANCE: Pours a three finger, fluffy, creamy white head with great retention. Hazy gamboge orange with medium levels of carbonation evident. Head slowly fades to a full cap and leaves some lacing on the top of the glass.

SMELL: Bolder nose of wheat malt, clove, bubble gum and light citrus aromas. Hints of bread as well. Nice stuff.

TASTE: Wheat, clove and bready flavors with a decent punch of bubble gum at the swallow. Bold finish of wheat malt, bready flavors, clove spices, bubble gum and light citrus flavors linger on the palate. Good stuff.

PALATE: Medium body and medium levels of carbonation. Creamy on the palate, goes down smooth and finishes a touch dry.

OVERALL: Good stuff. Not quite top of the line in the style, but it's definitely on the right side of the tracks. Worth checking out if you see it in your area.

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4.02/5  rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

All right hefeweizen. Nice look with a huge head. Quite balanced all along. Big wheat and yeast presence. Estery, it's not citrusy and I prefer it that way

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3.92/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

500ml can

appearance: hazy golden, 2 to 3 finger head. Lively carbonation. Head dissapeared quickly, Poor lacing.

smell: banana. clove, slightly pineapple.

taste: same as the smell with an extra sour note that may have been there cause the beer was close to the expiring date.

mouthfeel: really nice and smooth, goes down easily.

overall: one of the best hefes I've tried.

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4.02/5  rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

New packaging in a flip top bottle. From the bottle, it pours a hazy light amber with a significant white head. Bananas and clove in both the nose and mouth. Very smooth flavored Weissbier. Wow!

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4.25/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Decanted into American pint glass. Pours a hazy honey brown color. Really interesting mocha taste (I just wasn't expecting this from a heze weizen). Light bodied consistent with alcohol content. Would serve this to beer afficiandos.

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4.32/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Serving: From the bottle on the banks of the Spree
Served: August 2016

The long formal review is lacking here since I'm getting to this one really late- this was a marvelous hefeweizen and one that I would highly recommend. The yeast notes are robust and give the beer nice banana and clove notes, even a hint of sweeter cardamom. Very good beer.

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3.92/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Found in a supermarket in Berlin. Pours a hazy light orange colour with a lovely foamy head that leaves lacings. Aromas of banana, clove & wheat. Tastes of banana, peach, mild citrus, clove & wheat. Aftertaste is of a mild banana wheat bitterness. Overall much better than I expected, and one I could have had a second of quite easy.

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3.35/5  rDev -17.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

Nice pour, but flavor and aroma leave something to be desired. Standard weizen aromas and flavors, but a lot fainter than in some of its competitors. Surprised at the high ratings, as I don’t think it’s that good.....After all I’ve read, I’m a bit disappointed

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3.9/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

500ml bottle. Can’t decipher the code date. Appearance: Deep golden/light brown, cloudy, with a thick long lasting white head. Aroma: Bready, wheat, spicy clove yeast. Banana is there but on the low side for a hefe. Taste: Sweet bready and wheat maltiness, light citrus, pear, and moderately high clove spice. Low banana character and low bitterness. Mouthfeel: Medium body with light creaminess and moderate carbonation Finish: Dry and a little sticky on the tongue, with lingering pear and clove. Overall: An easy drinking, refreshing hefe. Nice body and clove aroma and flavor. Taste is on the sweeter side with a lower banana character than others in the style.

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4.15/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

16.9 oz. bottle poured into wheat-beer glass

L: turbid gold with plenty of amber, dark for a hefe, with a massive rush of foam that fills the top bulb of the glass quickly; much clearer than it seemed at first and showing all kinds of activity in the glass, hundreds of bubbles grouping then gathering speed and flying up the column to create a thick 1/4- to 1/3-inch skin of offwhite/beige foam, some sticking ... the foam on this thing is incredible; an easy 5

S: sour grain, sour banana ... has a slight tartness to it; rust, dust; sweetens as it warms; definitely a "sour" note in this one, very odd ... it's the second bottle I've tried, and the first bottle gave off nothing but sweet notes, like a caramel-dipped banana; this one doesn't have that same sweetness; as it warms, more of the sweet malt shows up

T: lots of banana with a slight toasted malt aftertaste; some grain; a little spice, clove; the toasted flavor grows as we go, but it's still subtle

F: crisp at first, becomes silkier as you go; the carbonation releases so fast and strongly that you drink through a skin early, softening it a bit; solid midweight

O: great hefe ... even the bit of sourness in the nose can't ruin what's been two fantastic pints of this beer separated by about a week; the first pint definitely had a better aroma, lots of caramel sweetness around the banana; the pour is amazing, and the head it pushes up is impressive; the occasional toasted notes are nice ... at times, it's a bit like a graham cracker/banana treat; a great beer I'll be seeking out again

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3.85/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

L- Hazy bright golden body with an incredible 3 fingers of foamy compact white head. Looks like a nitro beer, long persistence.
S- Wheat, banana, spices.
T- White bread, lemon, wheat, clove, spices, pear.
F- Well carbonated, rich, silky.
O- Very good beer. Smell and taste could be a bit better.

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3.74/5  rDev -7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Hazy golden our, with a big head that sticks forever and leaves an norms lace. Smell of bananas, clove, apricot. I feel some tobaco notes. Great carbonation, body is medium-light. Taste of bananas, clove, citrus, apricot. Good.

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3.52/5  rDev -13.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

L:
-pours a cloudy golden-orange with a small,creamy,white head
-medium carbonation visible
S:
-banana,clove,white bread,honey,slightly wheaty,pineapple
T:
-lemon,apples,pears,clove,oniony,honey,slightly wheaty,pineapple
-slightly more bitter than its contemporaries
F:
-medium carbonation
-light body
O:
Decent one.

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4.35/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

With a bold honey color, it has a subtle lemon taste backed up with a nice, bready malt backbone. Because this lemon taste doesn’t have a rough bitter bite, it’s as though you are having a nice lemon cake! This beer tastes just like the Sudwerks Hefeweizen from Davis, California, only filtered as a Weissbier and is more yeasty and bready, and the later parts are good thing! For those into Hefeweizens, I highly recommend Karl Strauss’ Hefeweizen and La Cumbre’s A Slice of Hefen!

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4.56/5  rDev +12.3%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

Saw this in the store for 8 euros for a 5L keg. Label looked like some serious work went into it (fancy gold lettering and all that jazz) so I looked it up on here. Really great ratings on here, and the price was right so I decided to give it a try despite not being the hugest fan of weissbier.

Filled a wine glass halfway. I'm not sure if it's that it's in a keg or if it's the brand of beer, but there was tons of foam. Basically the entire glass was foam. Let it sit and it mellowed revealing a beautiful golden hue. Translucent but not to the point where you could see something on the other side of the glass.

I'm really surprised by the flavor of this. I was expecting something hardly different from other popular weissbiers but it's really got a unique flavor. There's an underlying richness that brings to mind flavors that are more subtle in other weissbier. The thing I am really enjoying about it is the lack of the overwhelming sweetness that I usually identify with weissbier/hefe. It's really quite a welcome difference.

The overall flavor of this beer is hard to describe. The carbonation is proper; the beer is incredibly smooth. I can barely detect any hops, which is not exactly a plus for me, but I'm not honestly that upset about it. It's about as easy to drink as water, and that's not an exaggeration. I would describe the texture as very silky. You can actually taste some faint flavor from the alcohol, which actually seems to enhance the rich flavors in the beer.

Weissbier is far from my favorite style of beer, but this is easily the best one I've had. I have no complaints and could see myself drinking a lot of this in the future. Strongly recommended.

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4.88/5  rDev +20.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

Looks deep amber, hazy with a white foam head. Smells spicy, fruity, bananas, bread, yeast, clove. Taste is refreshing, citric, low bitterness, perfect representation of the hefeweizen style.

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4.09/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Served cold from 500ml flip-top bottle into Schneider Weisse glass.

L) Pale orange-yellow colour, cloudy, lots of bubbles. 6mm smooth white head.

S) Orange-citrus and yeasty clove.

T) Light sweetish caramel flavour, with spritzy citrus-lemon balance. No bitterness.

F) Lightish mouthfeel with fairly strong carbonation and attendant acidity. Very refreshing and enjoyable.

O) Very solid Weizen, I can't fault it really. A refreshing one for a warm day.

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3.46/5  rDev -14.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A - Excellent orange color, decent white foam.
S - Fruits, orange and apple with some grains aroma.
T/M - Above average Weis. Usual aroma of banana, citrus, but less spices, which is plus for this beer.

O - Drinkable and decent beer.

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3.97/5  rDev -2.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

how have i not heard of this before? its so good, enjoyed on tap at bull and bush last night. man those guys have really stepped up their guest tap game! this is a strange take on the hefe style, although im sure its far more traditional than many of the american ones i have sort of let pervert my interpretation of authentic. this is really really cloudy, yeasty, and thick. its not all that appealing looking in the pint glass aside from the off white head it comes out with and holds for a few minutes. it smells the part, wheat heavy for sure, tannic and textures right off the get go with the grain, but it fits. what surprised me the most about this german hefe, is that its not very banana forward. thats the main flavor descriptor with these, and its in such trace amounts as to be irrelevant here, yet the beer is still super yeasty, which is almost hard to figure out. bready and doughy and breakfasty, but not banana. not clove either, no spice here really at all, the yeast is mild, but its also somehow full flavored. impressive, and i like it more the more i drink it. filler bodied, and not as well carbonated as some others, but this beer is pretty awesome on the whole, and i could pick it out of a crowd of 100 hefeweizens, which i cant say about too many beers. really solid stuff, rustic, timeless.

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3.34/5  rDev -17.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

Ah, hefeweizen - a difficult style to master and one that demands an elegance of simplicity. Expectations are high given the brewery, but can this compete with world-class offerings?

BOTTLE: 1 pint 9.4 fl oz. Brown glass. Swingtop, with a paper neck label splayed across the bar of the swingtop to ensure the contents are as labelled (this label is ripped when the swingtop is opened). "2412212." Green label. I guess Kulmbacher rebrands this is as "Bavarian Hefe-Weizen" for the American export market.

Cost was $3.29 USD at an Austin, TX bottle shop. 5.40% ABV. Served cold into a pilsner glass.

No bubble show forms as it's poured.

HEAD: 3.5 fingers wide. Creamy frothy white colour head. Good even consistency, with a natural smoothness. Appears healthy and lively. Retention is quite good - easily 10 minutes. Leaves no lacing on the sides of the glass as it recedes.

BODY: Clear copper, with more of a filtered kellerweiss look and no yeast particulate at all. It's not the vibrant orange colour with ample haziness that I expect in a good example of the style.

It's appealing, sure, but I've seen far better in the style. This fails to rival offerings from Ayinger, Franziskaner, Weihenstephaner, Erdinger, et al.

AROMA: It's more the banana and clove camp of hefe character than the orange peel and cream, but I do note some sherbert characteristics. The clean wheat backbone is nice, but could come off more fresh. Clean barley. Mild floral hop character.

Overall, it's appealing for a hefeweizen. Aromatic intensity is average.

I'd like a more vitamin-y overt yeast character, as well as more evocative wheat. Orange peel would be nice.

TASTE: Has a clean wheat backbone but the freshness just isn't there. The clove and banana yeast characteristics are lovely, but I'd prefer orange peel personally. The banana isn't artificial (i.e. runt-esque, if you will) and tastes authentic.

Kulmbacher nails the balance that is integral to the style, and brings plenty of subtlety and nuance to the table, but to be fair there are more intricate weissbiere with a fresher presentation and even subtler flavour profiles out there. To nitpick, the clove is a bit reticent and the yeast could be more evocative.

TEXTURE: Delightfully creamy, light, and refreshing. It's a bit too full-bodied; I wonder if more of a flaked malt bill would leaven this up a bit. Aptly smooth and wet, with a biteen too much thickness and weight on the palate. Overall presence on the palate is quite good, though it could use some dialing in to really elevate the beer. The best brews in the style are uniquely delicate and fragile in the mouthfeel, but this is fairly middle-of-the-road.

OVERALL: Of course it's highly drinkable, but not so much so as my personal favourites in the style (Ayinger, Franziskaner, Weihenstephaner). Its well-worth trying, and banana hefeweizen fans will love it, but for my money I'd sooner go for a more orange peel-emphatic build with a lighter fresher feel. I'll plan on revisiting this on-draught, but based on this imported bottle, this won't amaze the discerning drinker. Certainly better than many U.S. attempts at the style, but not world-class.

B-

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4.7/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

One of my favorite beers I've tried, bought a 32oz growler and am thinking about getting some more. I love the taste of the beer, could drink this every day.

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4.75/5  rDev +17%

Sampling right now after league bowling on 12/9/14. Comes in a single 500ml (16.9 ounce) bottle for $3.99 with a ceramic stopper. Bottle chilled down to 36 degrees F in my beer cooler and poured in a .5L French Jelly glass.

Pours a hazy orange-apricot in color with a good 4 to 5 finger white frothy/foamy head that last a good bit before finally settling down to a good 3mm or so after 15 mins. A good amount of sediment is seen at the bottom of the bottle. Decent lacing is seen that sticks to the glass in 'wishbone' form. The aroma is very pleasant of sweet wheat, banana with a hint of spice. Pretty much the same for the taste with the wheat, spice (cloves) banana with a touch of honey coming through for the very smooth finish. Goes down very easy with no bitter or harsh aftertaste at all! Medium-bodied with perfect carbonation , which isn't much actually. A really great brew! PROST!

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