Erdinger Weissbier Kristallklar
Erdinger Weissbräu

 

 

 

 

Best by October 2022

Man, it's really not often you see Kristallweizens around; I've only reviewed one to date. That's why it's super strange to me that I ran into 2 different ones in the same week. I really enjoyed the Weihensetphaner version, much more than the average ratings, so I have high hopes here. Let's dive in

Pours a clear gold with 3 fingers of rocky creamy off white head that slowly fades to a cap and leaves minimal lacing

This is bright and vibrant in the nose but still subtle. I'm picking up on aromas of sweet banana, honey, peppery hops, doughy malt, light clove, and lemon zest

Where the subtlety was appreciated in the nose, it translates to slightly bland in taste. On the front end of the sip I'm tasting banana, lemon zest, earthy wheat, light honey, and orange zest. The swallow brings notes of earthy wheat, grassy hops, sweet banana, honey, clove, and lemon zest

A light medium body pairs with moderate carbonation, resulting in a spritzy and refreshing beer. Finishes neutral and a tad creamy but dries out over time

While it is a bit bland in taste, this was still solid stuff. I'm excited to try the other one I got now

 

 

On tap and bottle: Great summer beer from Erdinger - but their Hefe has a little more of everything!

Look: Golden yellow, BIG foamy head, like slightly dehydrated piss! just how i like it! (:

Smell: THATS BEER. Nothing special about the smell, but nothing wrong with it either. Just smells of grain and hops and a little malty. Just your average Franz (German) beer.

Taste: Kinda average? Not really special in any way, but its not BAD, just not exciting.... I'd still drink it if it were in front of me, but I wouldn't reach out and get this again.

Feel: Goes down like water. Pretty carbonated, smooth, a bit creamy.

Overall: This beer makes me feel like I am trapped in a low-pay dead end job, and I go home every day in my average car, to my average family, and say hello to my average, husband, (whos name is Joe Smith), and nothing exciting ever happens... Until one day, I get NTR'd by an exciting beer and I never look back at my old life ever again. This beer will never be drunk by me for as long as I live. Unless this is the last beer on the planet

 

500 ml bottle served cold into an Erdinger Weiss glass. Part of the the Erdinger 5 pack here in Canada in anticipation of Christmas which is (checks calendar) 2 months away.

Appearance- Brillaintly clear and dark gold in color. A plethora of bubbles rise to the surface to reinforce the two finger fluffy white head. Great staying power and lots of curtain style lacing.

Smell - Banana, clove and bubblegum, all rather subdued.

Taste - Banana and lots of wheat, with a doughy bready flavor. Hints of clove and even pepper. Good balance and a bit more spicy than I recall the hefe being.

Mouthfeel - Medium-light bodied, silky smooth, great levels of carbonation that pare nicely with the flavor profile.

Overall - Well made kristalweizen, no complaints at all atlthough wihs the nose had just a bit more intensity. That's the only quibble with an otherwise solid brew.

Surprisingly enough, this is one of the last styles I haven’t tried and rated. Which means the last time I tried a kristalweiss might have been ... ages ago? SN’s Crystal Wheat (?) comes to mind, fresh at the Chico facility. Let’s see how this compares.

This certainly nails the appearance, crystalline clear with a bright foamy cap. Slow pour gives it some thickness once it settles. I get the classic weissbier notes, dialed in and restrained. Some clove, some banana, a hint of coriander. Clean and smooth finish, easy drinker.

 

 

Crystal clear bubbly golden appearance, pinky finger of pearl white foam. Smell and taste are clones: wheat with light banana, lime, decent cloves, german yeast, and general grains, little more on the raw and sweet side in the taste, muddling what should be a crisp and clean complexion. Feel is not muddled though, thin, crisp, clean and higher in carbonation, wheat lingers past the sip. A good kristallweizen for spring or summer

500ml bottle. Poured out a clear, straw-yellow color with a small, white head of bubbly foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of banana, clove, wheat and yeastiness. Sweet wheat taste with hint of citrus, banana, clove and spices.

 

L- A rich golden amber, clear as a bell, with a 15mm pillowy pure white head (ps holding well 10mins later, pps even 20mins later!).
S- Extremely mild, just some grains.
T- The flavour is quite 'bright', light, and I notice a somewhat 'carbonic' dry/soda-water note from the heavy carbonation on the palate. It tastes more like a standard factory 'Euro-lager'* to me than a weissbrau or from one of the big/reputable Bavarian brewers.
F- It has a dry side to it, refreshing on a summer's day, but there is very little body or feel of interest.
O- The colour+head might be the most appealing aspect here. This beer seems to lack any distinctive taste/feel character at all - very disappointing. I lived for 3yrs in Berlin, enjoyed scores of varieties of local wheat beers, and Erdinger's range as well. Then I saw this in London (Waitrose) I realised I hadn't reviewed it and chuckled 'Wow/ironic, a German trad beer I haven't already tried, and I find it in London '. So my expectations were high; yet this is surprisingly disappointing. It's almost like they've filtered the weissbrau and it's filted out all of the weizen character with it!
500ml bottle BB: 03/2021

* the likes of UK brewed Stella and Kronenbourg.
ps. This review was written before reading the beer lable or any reviews below. Just popped back to add a ps onto this review to say how ironic that the descriptive notes right below the bottle image refer to a 'carbonic' taste, so not just me it seems...

 

500 ml bottle poured into a weizen glass.
Best by: 7/20/20

L: Brilliant pale gold, lots of briskly rising bubbles, three fingers of thick white foam with good retention, leaves decent lace.
S: Light wheat, spice and yeast aromas.
T: Rich and malty but straight forward, wheat and light yeast.
F: Light frothy body, medium carbonation.
O: Drinkable and refreshing but as I remember other examples of this style, overrefined and a little bland.

 

 

 

Poured from a brown 16.9 oz. bottle. Has a golden color with a 1 inch head. Smell is mild, malts, some bananas. Taste is the same as the aroma, light sweetness, highly refreshing. Feels medium/full bodied in the mouth and overall is a decent beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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.

Clear gold with a good head. Wheaty nose. Full wheat body with a little crispness. Novelty clarity for a witbier. But I do prefer the original.

 

M04

Indeed pours crystal clear - but that clarity comes at a price - both aroma and flavour lack the wheat character that I look for in a Weiss

 

to the guy below me, it's not cloudy cuz it's Krystal (clear).... it's their version of a clear wheat. i love this stuff!

Not as cloudy or strong tasting as normal erdinger. Still, excellent creation. More of a “light” wiessbeer