Let's talk about Hefeweizen freshness

Right from the source, I imagine Weihenstepaner is cloudy without being poured-swirled-poured. I have found that fresh imports (1-2 months) don't have very much sediment. In mid february I found LCBO stock with a bottling date of Jan 18th, 2016.

Clear Weihenstepaner = old Weihenstepaner. The first New England brewery.

 

I've noticed Weihenstephaner starts to lose its magic around 6-7 months past date. Not every time, I've had them around 6 and be ok but assuming subpar storage in a store I think around this time is when you will begin noticing its off.
In my experience anyway.

And its not that its bad but that its losing its esters, and have noticed the yeast settling out and becoming more like particulate and less turbid.

 

What kind of code are they using?

 

In Canada, Weihenstepaner's labeling is very different than in the USA. The bottles I have seen in Buffalo have a 5-6 digit code. In Ontario, the bottles simply state the date:

Bottled On
01/18/2016

 

Neshaminy creeks hefe in PA i noticed is so fresh until about 3-4 months itll start to drop off and even the carbonation will drop and its just very sweet. The banana turns to a laffy taffy sweetness and the clove is gone at least 50% the woes of liking beers that don't fly of shelves are saddening sometimes.

 

I just had one last night, it was apparently bottled right around Christmas 2015 (55115 code) and it was fine. I do agree that the clove fades with age. I always swirl pour Weihenstephaner Hefeweisbier even if it is only sixty days old, which is about as fresh as we are likely to see in Northern New England, as there is always a fair amount of yeast settling.
As with all beers I don't see a magic cutoff date, too many variables in play. Weihenstephaners here tend to be two months to five months old before they reach my hands. Obviously, I'd love to get really fresh ones but to the extent that one can generalize I don't start to see what I notice as significant fading unless they are past four months from the brewing date. I would conjecture that hotter climates and transport during summer months could easily shorten that date.

 

Its true but personally i drink very seasonally. Its the only way to get the freshest beer in some places. Even between PA and NY.

 

In the USA the first number is the day, the next two are the week of the year and the last digit is the year. I somehow (4:58 AM may be responsible) inserted an extra 1 into the dating in my post above. 5515 should be either the 15th or 25th day of December of 2015 but I'd be both surprised and suspicious about the idea of bottling on Christmas Day.

 

Mine has the code 0505.Help??

Bottling code 0505 on my bottles of Weihestephaner......Does this mean they are a year old ???

 

I've only rated and tasted one hefeweizen, SN's Kellerweis and I really enjoyed it as it was a fresh bottle. I need to try more and familiarize myself with the style. I'm not sure at what point a hefeweizen loses flavor.

 

0505 is December 20, 2015. Not quite a year but still pretty old.

 

Just to help you @hophugger crack the "code" in the future, the first digit is the last digit of the day of the month, the next two digits are the week of the year, and the last digit is the last digit of the year. Easiest to translate backwards, so in your case "5" is "2015", "50" is the fiftieth week of the year, and "0" is the 20th.

 

Thanks for the info

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Both Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr are freshness dated (no decoder ring needed) and the importer is located one state away from you in Littleton. I'd look to those two.
While their lagers might stagnate, I often see their weissbiers dated from a month or two ago.