Erdinger Weissbier Kristallklar | Erdinger Weissbräu

3.48/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

500 mL bottle from a gift pack picked up at the LCBO; best before July 2019 and served slightly chilled. Haven't reviewed a kristalweizen in years.

Pours a clear medium golden hue, giving rise to nearly an inch of foamy, frothy white head that fizzles off within several minutes' time. A thin collar lives on, in the midst of a decent swath of uneven lacing; I don't think I could tell this apart from a pale lager without getting my nose involved. It smells of banana candy and bubblegum, with notes of orchard fruit also coming through amidst a backbone of bready wheat malt sweetness. Slightly yeasty, too; nothing unexpected so far.

Not bad - a straightforward wheat beer, dominated mainly by flavours of grainy malts and bready, doughy wheat sweetness, with that ripe banana and/or bubblegum ester being the other major component. Hints of appleskin are easily missed towards the finish, with the wheat malts and subtle banana notes carrying through into the aftertaste. Light in body, with lively carbonation that assertively prickles the palate, frothing up a little in the mouth. Crisp and refreshing, with high drinkability.

Final Grade: 3.48, a B-. Erdinger Kristall is a serviceable brew that falls somewhere between a Euro lager and a German hefe. While I do enjoy both of those styles, this is one of those 'jack of all trades' cases where it doesn't totally sate my thirst for either one. In the interest of transparency, I'll say that Erdinger's Weissbier is not a favourite of mine - so if this recipe is in any way a variation upon their flagship beer, that would explain why I'm lukewarm on the whole experience. On the flip side: if you love their Weissbier, you'll likely appreciate this one, too, so purchase accordingly.

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4.07/5  rDev +13.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.25

Appearance: Does what it says on the tin, it's clear, with a rich gold color holding a solid finger of sticky bright white foam that is dropping into a creamy glob.

Aroma: Earthy hop note with a mineral water background, classic German profile. Some mild citric esters give a hint of complexity.

Taste: Very balanced, goes a touch toward bitter in the front with a mineral tonic edge but then slowly fades over to a mild sweet almost candy finish. Aftertaste is grainy, wheat and barley, a light malt.

Mouthfeel: Medium body, oily finish, firm carbonation.

Overall: Solid beer, see through version. I think the goal of the Kristal approach is reducing the yeast, giving a more refined, champagne like finish. It works, but I like yeast and so the extra effort is somewhat lost on me. Still, it's easy to appreciate the craft involved and this isn't a light beer by any means. An easy sipper for a cold afternoon.

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2.91/5  rDev -18.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

Pours a clear golden coloration with a large, foamy head and visible carbonation. Smell is quite subdued, with only very faint aromas of wheat and yeast coming through. Taste is similarily unremarkable, with only very faint notes of grainy wheat malt, grassy hops and yeast esters, with a certain medicinal band-aid note was well. Finishes quite crisp, with a light bitterness and a slightly metallic, medicinal aftertaste. Effervescent mouthfeel with a light body and very lively carbonation. This is very crisp and clean, but completely lacks the rich wheat and estery yeast character you would expect from a regular Hefeweizen. Ok as a refreshing summer beer, but has nothing in common with a proper Hefeweizen, basically the AAL of Hefeweizens.

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3.33/5  rDev -7.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.5

Very beautiful color in a shapely glass. No distinct smell. An airy and light body, kind of like drinking a cloud. However, there's not much actual flavor besides the distinct wheat character.

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3.56/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Pours clear, gold in color with one and a quarter inch head. Taste is bready, wheat, and a touch of bubblegum. Light bodied, high carbonation, and sweet. Tasty and a nice German lager, but I do prefer other versions of the style.

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3.25/5  rDev -9.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

Flat bonde body. Kristall clear. 3 finger white head that fizzed away quickly.
Wheat and grass in the aroma. Some bubblegum and Band Aid from the yeast.
Bready malts with some grass and spice. bubblegum and Band Aids show up towards the end.
Medium body, medium carbonations. A little weighty on the the palate.

I am bored to death.

Edit: And bananas. I get over ripe bananas.

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3.83/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Appearance: Clear yellow, big head.

Smell: Very big bubblegum, I like it.

Taste: Bready, some earthiness, mild sweetness. No bubblegum or banana, kind of disappointing.

Overall: Beer #2 from the sample pack. I really liked the smell of this beer but none of the smell was apparent in the flavor. Tasted like a standard lager or generic wheat beer.

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3.53/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

L: Pous a clear golden color with a big top of creamy white head that disloves slowly, sticky nice lacings on the glass.

A: Aroma is off wheat,grass,banana with some slight notes of citrus and spices.

T: some malty and bready notes in the back with some fruity sweetness and hint off spices in the front, slightly dry finish. Aftertaste is quite weak. Very little that resembles a weissbier in this one.

M: Medium body with medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is crisp and clean but a little to watery.

O: Is decent and easy enough to drink, but not very interesting in any aspects.

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1.33/5  rDev -63%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

I have to say that Erdinger Kristall is the worst beer that I've tasted so far. Taste and feel are awful (very sappy), very far from my own zone. Maybe this is good for someone else, but not for me (I mostly dring lager-type beers).
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FINNISH: Täytyy sanoa että Erdinger Kristall on huonoin olut mitä olen maistanut tähän mennessä. Maku ja suutuntuma ovat hirveitä (todella imelä) ja kaukana omasta alueestani. Sopii ehkä jollekin toiselle, mutta en näe tätä sopivana lager-tyyppisistä oluista pitävälle.

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3.35/5  rDev -6.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Light copper hue with some greenish tinge. Nice head on this one, standing two fingers tall, great retention. Light lace. Smells of crackers, bread dough, straw and butterscotch. A little subdued.

Taste starts with malts cracker, bread, straw, grain and grass, giving way to sweet flavours of bubblegum, butterscotch, light caramel and some banana. Light bodied, clean finish. A decent take on the style.

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4.35/5  rDev +21.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Serving Type: 500 mL Bottle poured into an Erdinger Weissebier glass

A- Pours a "Kristal" clear gold colour (a little richer than a typical light lager). Fluffy white head with good retention. Thick patches of lacing.

S- Mainly bready with a hint of bubblegum. No typical Banana flavour found in a Weissebier (I expect that has something to do with the filtering process. A clean, crisp flavour that is a nice change of pace from the typical Wheat Beer.

T- Like the aroma, the flavour is very clean and crisp: Mainly a wheat/bready note, a hint of bubblegum, and an earthy/floral hops.

M- Light Body and steady, smooth moderate carbonation. Wet finish. Extremely refreshing.

O- The first Kristalweizen I've had the Privilege to try and I have to say that I was deeply impressed. Clean and crisp flavours comparable to the Czech Pilseners with the added Body/flavour of Wheat malt.

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4.45/5  rDev +24%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.75

One of the best Krystal Weizen in Germany. I've lived it for 10 years and tried others. Only Weihenstephan beats this....but that's difficult to find. (I[m in NRW. There are great lagers, Helles, down south.) No Banana taste in this one. If you order it from a bar, ask for it without lemon... not required.

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3.9/5  rDev +8.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This was poured into a weizen glass.
The appearance was a fairly clear, pale golden yellow color, with about a three finger puffy white foamy head. After the head dissipates, there's some stringy lacing sliding into the beer nicely.
The smell starts off with a bready sweetness and lets in some of the typical "bubblegum" notes of a krystalweizen. Banana esters become faint with light cracker details, and is somewhat wheaty.
The taste was mainly sweet through the previously mentioned flavors adding a light earthy to semi-grassy hop bite closer to the aftertaste. There's a light sweet wet finish.
The mouthfeel sat about a light on the body with a nice smooth carbonation running about.
Overall, as a krystalweizen, it works, but I think I'd rather go for a Weihenstephaner one first.

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3.63/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

500ml bottle, just called 'Kristall', and part of the new Erdinger mixed pack, one much more interesting than their previous hefe and dunkel-only offerings.

This beer pours a clear, pale golden yellow colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, tightly foamy, and somewhat fizzy bone-white head, which leaves some thick strands of streaky lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of bready, doughy pale malt, a subtle wheat graininess, a touch of chewing gum, faint banana chip esters, and earthy, leafy, and mildly grassy noble hops. The taste is grainy, lightly crackery pale and wheaty malt, a bit of Rhine Valley white wine gasohol, pithy Pez candy, a still weak banana fruitiness, and the same leafy, weedy and wannabe grassy hops from the nose.

The bubbles are quite active in their swirling and meandering frothiness, the body an adequate middleweight for the style, and a bit edgy from I know not where, to be deemed particularly smooth. It finishes off-dry, the fruity wheat and mixed hops frolicking into that good night.

I've always found Kristalweizens to be a dumbed-down (ISAs, anyone?) compromise for those, ahem, new world pussies who can't abide cloudy beer. Given that, what we have here is testament on high - a tasty brew, to be certain, but somehow neutered-seeming, and I'm not even that big of a fan of hefes in the first place, rabble, rabble, rabble.

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3.06/5  rDev -14.8%
look: 5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 2.75

L:
-pours a clear golden colour with a big fluffy white head
-crazy amounts of carbonation rushing up the glass
S:
-very grassy,earthybubble gum,cardboard and a slight banana aroma
T:
-very grassy,honey,bubble gum,slight banana w a sweet, bready finish
F:
-medium-high carbonation,light-medium mouthfeel
O:
very different flavour profile as other Hefeweizens.
at times it tasted more like a Pilsner than a Weizen.
Not quite what i want from the style.

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3.63/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

look - pours yellow/gold with a slightly darker hue, very clear, very carbonated, frothy head dissipated rather quickly but left good retention.

smell - has a pilsner malt smell with a hint of bananas

taste - initially tastes like an american light lager, cant really detect any wheat, but it finishes with a caramel sweetness along with hints of banana and spiciness throughout.

feel - crisp and well carbonated. a bit savory with the aftertaste. obviously an easy drinker.

overall - has its attributes but overall is kind of plain/boring

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3.31/5  rDev -7.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

A 500ml bottle with a BB of Sept 2014, so it's just out of date. Picked up a while back from a supermarket. I presume this is the filtered version of Erdinger's regular Weissbier.

A: Poured into an Erdinger weizen glass. A clear pale-gold hue with plentiful carbonation. Produces a huge head of creamy white foam with good retention; this steadily reduces to a persistent surface layer.

S: Aroma of vaguely fruity yeast esters with hints of grainy wheat, husks, subtle pear/apple juice, earthiness, stewed leaves and a sulphurous twang in the background. As the style goes this is rather flaccid.

T: Tastes of mildly fruity yeast with a dry, lingering finish. Notes of grain, subtle wheat, bread, fruity yeast esters, mild apples, a hint of banana, earthiness, stewed leaves and a touch of cardboard. Faintly sweet, followed by a prolongued yeastiness upon swallowing.

M: Mouthfeel is smooth, tingly and dry, with spritzy carbonation and decent body. Somewhat astringent, accompanied by an aftertaste of fruity yeast esters, mild wheat and faint stewed leaves.

O: So-so; not as good as the unfiltered Weissbier (itself hardly the champion of the style). Looks alright, however the aroma and flavour are a lacklustre blend of fruity yeast notes and subtle wheat. None of the bold fruitiness and spicy character that would be expected from a better weizen. Body is OK. Drinkable enough but equally forgettable. No need to hunt it down.

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3.65/5  rDev +1.7%

The pours with a bright pear color, fizzy tall foam and a lively carbonated spirit.

The nose is light but resembles apple juice, with wheat malts, light yeast and a pear like sweet aroma.

This very light refreshing beer has a tone of orchard sweetness, light bubblegum, wheat, apple, pear and a doughy maltiness.

This seems to be aptly named, as it has a crystal clear complexion, feel and light clean taste.

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2.5/5  rDev -30.4%

Review following the BJCP2008 guidelines (style 15A). Bottle 50 cl - Batch L291107. AROMA: light wheat aroma with faint vanilla notes and a sweet background. no hops, diacetyl or DMS aromas present. APPEARANCE: gold color and translucid (kristall version). average white and moussy head with average retention. TASTE: grainy and bready flavours with faint wheat character. some vanilla notes and finishes sweet. very low bitterness. no DMS or diacetyl. PALATE: medium-low body with medium-low carbonation. OVERALL: a bulk filtered weizen that lacks the aromas and flavours of a standard weizen.

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3.86/5  rDev +7.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Picked this up at the Oak Barrel in Hagerstown. Decent looking beer that lives up to the Kristall, pristine looking. Not much to offer to the nose but very tasty, not special but tasty and very smooth. Overall a pretty strong offering that I will gladly have again but not one I will be Jonesing for.

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3.47/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Apple-y blonde color with a fluff of three fingers of head. Excellent head retention in the glass. Looks good.

Stale bread, wheat and crusts, hint of lemon, light banana, and crabapple. Lots of German musty qualities, exemplary of a not-so-fresh bottle. Label says she's good til June. Erdinger never knocks it out of park for me, anyway. Pedestrian kristalweizen nose.

Custardy yeast, wheat grain, lost citrus notes, and a mild banana-esque finish. Somewhat grassy with a spiciness, like white pepper, in the backend; mixing cream and burning carbonation, along the way. Not a whole lot going on. Tastes like a good base beer for a summer shandy.

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3.6/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75

A - Pale yellow colouring, similar to a lager.

S - Grass like sweet fragrance.

T - Sweet, decent amount of wheat coming through on it.

M - Fizzy, maybe a little harsh on the tongue.

O - A decent beer in the Erdinger range but not one of the best. Drinkable, enjoyable but I find it somewhat uninteresting.

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3.78/5  rDev +5.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Best by March 2014

Pours a golden straw color with a slight haze to it, good sized white head, fades at a moderate pace with hardly any lacing.

Smell has a sweet malt aroma, slightly grassy notes.

Taste starts out with a sweet malt flavor with hints of banana fruitiness, a decent grassy like bitterness follows, carbonation is on the high side but helps lend a dry finish necessary for this beer.

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3.27/5  rDev -8.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

500ml Bottle from Tesco (£2.19):
Clear amber to gold colour with a thumb sized head that is full of fairly large, rough looking bubbles that settle to a thing lacing on the top of the beer that starts to turn patchy.

Light with some wheat and faint grassy hops, almost coming across as a pale lager in places as apposed to a wheat beer. This soon passes with some citrus and light banana followed by some background malts and bread.

Wheat, malts and banana start things off, with the latter coming through stronger than it did in the nose. There is some cloves, a light citrus taste and touches of bread too, plus some background fruits.

Lively with a fairly good balance and a medium body with a very slightly sticky mouthfeel. The beer was quite an easy one to drink although it did come across as a little bland in places.

Quite a strange beer initially and started almost like a pale lager with light malts and very faint grassy hops before the kristalweizen in it started to shine through. Not a bad effort overall but there are certainly better, and more readily available, Erdinger beers out there to be had.

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3.5/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Bottled
This gives ERDINGER Weissbier 'crystal clear' a sparkling and refreshing character which wheat-beer lovers appreciate, especially in summer.
I enjoyed it and not massively a fan of the style

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