Friedenfelser Hefe-Weissbier
Schlossbrauerei Friedenfels GmbH

 

 

I remarked in an earlier review that there are some styles which are just not appropriate for a hot, humid day like today. If you regularly follow my reviews, you may know & remember that I am not big on Hefeweizens. I like them when they are clove-ester forward, as opposed to banana-ester forward, but that is the result of lager-temperature fermentation & not something that is routinely done commercially. 8=( Still, when I saw this bottle at a very inexpensive price point at Hunger-n-Thirst, it called to me.

From the Bottle: "Wheat Beer"; "Royal Castle Brewery Friedenfels Since 1886"; "Brewed according to the Bayern Reinheitsgebot (German Purity Law) of 1516".

I did some in-bottle agitation before Pop!ping the cap to try and get any flocculate back into suspension. Following the Pop! of the cap, I went full-on aggro for my pour. This led to the uprushing of a load of head that actually scared me due to its intensity. Whoa! It puffed up, formed two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head & suddenly fell away to wisps! Man, the humidity is killing us all. Color was a murky, cloudy solid Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9). Nose was more banana than clove, but not so pronounced as to make me think that I would be chewing on bubble gum. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but close. I liked the taste, not too banana but with enough clove spiciness to be perceptible. Finish was semi-dry and very refreshing, which is the purpose to drinking this style on a hot, humid summer's day.

On tap, poured hazy gold with a nice head. Typical hefeweizen aromas of bread and spices. On drinking, the beer was a bit lighter and crisper than I am used to for the style. The sweetness was restrained, and the finish was drier than expected, A nice summer refresher that left me going back for another sip.

 

A: The beer is clear yellow in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a finger and a half high white head that gradually died down, leaving a thin layer of bubbles covering the surface and a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderately strong aromas of bananas are present in the nose—the kind of banana flavor you get from candies—but without the sweetness.
T: The taste follows the smell and is dominated by flavors of banana esters and has hints of wheat and clove.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This hefeweizen is all about the bananas—there's not much in the way of the underlying wheat or the clove spices.

Serving type: bottle

 

 

Had on tap. Pours slightly hazy, bright yellow in color with 3/4 inch head. Taste is banana, clove, and bread. High carbonation, sweet, with medium body. Makes for an excellent and tasty hefe. One of the better examples of the style I have had recently. I will look to get this one again.

Poured from a 16.9oz bottle into a weizen glass.

A: The beer is a deep gold color with a large foamy white head that fades slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains wheat, bananas, caramelized malts and a touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of bananas, caramel and citrus. Then a strong breadiness comes in from wheat and a hearty but not too heavy malt character. The hops presence is mild but complementary and brings a good balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet and slightly bready.

M: Crisp and smooth, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, mild kick, good representation of style, this is a solid beer to drink for a while if you’re in the mood for the style.

 

 

 

 

The local beer store stocked up on a ton of this stuff so I pulled the trigger on a pint. Best By: August 30th, 2017.

Look: Pours a cloudy tan/gold. Fair amount of head but that's most likely because of my swirling of the bottle to get all of the sediment sitting on the bottom. It subsided relatively quickly after having a few sips.

Smell: Typical hefe smell. Yeasty, bananas, cloves and a bit of bubble gum. Nice. As it warms up there is a tiny hint of phenol that can be detected when dipping your nose into the glass.

Taste: This is where I'm a little let down. The flavor doesn't explode like it does in say, Ayinger Brauweisse or Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, but it's nice. Bread, banana and yeasty flavors up front. Bit of a tangy end, wheat and yeast aftertaste. Solid, just not what I crave in a hefeweizen.

Feel: A bit more carbonated than I expected. It's not bad but they could probably dial it back just a tad. Mouthfeel is light and floaty. I'd be ok if it were a little heavier but it's winter. This would be awesome on a hot day. Smooth, very drinkable; crushed the pint in no time.

Overall: A good hefeweizen with all of the right traits. I wish the flavor were a little more aggressive but it's definitely worth a try. A bit lighter than I expected too, which can be a good thing. Will most certainly pick up a six pack of these this summer.

16.9 oz bottle, best before 08.30.2017.

I'm not familiar with this brewery at all, but the bottle says this beer won a gold award at the 2014 World Beer Cup in the South German-style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier. Let's give it a go.

Nice pour with very lively carbonation that creates a large, frothy white head atop a deep gold/light amber colored beer. Very cloudy after adding the yeast. Good head retention with sparse lacing left on the glass.

Spot-on banana, clove and bubble gum aroma. Some grainy wheat is noticeable as well. No hops at all. The flavor is good but seems a little too subdued. The fruit and spice is there, it's just very mild and doesn't really "pop" at all.

Medium-light bodied, smooth and creamy. A true-to-style weissbier with zero off-flavors. Just a notch below my favorites like Andechs and Weihenstephaner, but worthy of a try for sure.

Review: Bottle of Friedenfelser Hefe-Weizen (Hell) 5.2%ABV.

"Hefe" means yeast, "Weizen" means wheat. If I am to be honest I am not a big fan of German style wheat beers. They are not what I am used to, so I wasn’t looking forward to drinking this bottle. But the experience was one of surprise, as I very much enjoyed the beer, so much so that I quickly cracked open another one!

Wheat beers always have a bitter aftertaste that doesn’t generally appeal, but this beer was very smooth, and I had no worries about drinking it. So I guess if this beer appealed to a wheat beer novice like myself then surely it must be doing something right!

The beer is naturally brewed according to traditional Bavarian methods, so there is no issue with quality and pureness, and at least 50% of malted wheat is used in the production.
On opening the bottle the beer fizzed out, which was a surprise as it wasn’t shaken or touched for a while. This happened with the second bottle, so there must be a huge amount of carbonation going on!

When that all settled the colour was of a very clear orange beer with a nice frothy head, that looked very appealing.

The aroma was quite strong with notes of sweet banana, yeast and wheat. I thought the taste was fantastic, very nice, very easy to drink. It tasted very sweet, and contained flavours of yeast and wheat, with a strong fruity banana aroma, and the aftertaste, was very manageable.

Overall it was a good, pure and clear well balanced drink with a nice strong feel to it. I liked it and might start getting used to these German Style Wheat beers if they all taste as good as this one! Recommended.