What's the difference between these two styles you ask? Well, weizen means white in German and it is short for Hefeweizen(meaning Yeast-Weizen) so it is a German style wheat beer made with a yeast strain that gives strong banana/cloves/bubblegum aromatics and is usually cloudy with suspended yeast as they are unfiltered.
Witbiers are a bit different, it is a wheat ale from Belgium that is usually made using a spice such as coriander as well as orange peel. The most familiar example to most North Americans would be Blue Moon. A witbier yeast is usually less aromatic with the fruit & spice notes coming from actual fruits & spices. Now, onto the beers~!
Fujizakura Kogen Height Weizen
First up is my favorite weizen in Japan, 5.5% it is a slightly opaque straw gold with a big fluffy head that is blessed with fantastic staying power that leaves huge gobs of lacing - terrific.
The nose is wheaty cloves and tangy bananas - yummy. The mouthfeel is a bit more abrasive carbonation-wise than I remember. I get a good chewy wheat with banana and clove flavor. Nice but not as great as I remember it being... ah the bottle is a few weeks past date. It was a freebie so no big deal but when you get this beer in good form it's something really special. Here's my original review:
Bottle. Probably my favorite weizen in Japan, actually all of Fujizakura’s beers are very well made. It has a nice aroma with hints of grass & spice. It poured with a nice head of white foam over a milky gold effervescent body. The foam left a generous amount of lacing on the glass. The flavor is a great balance between spicy & fruity. Overall, an excellent Japanese hefeweizen.
Next up is the winter version of Baeren's Weizen which has a more robust and malty character than it's Summer Weizen. It pours a malty looking amber gold with a thick fluffy off-white head that lasts a long time and has very nice looking lacing.
The nose is bready malts and spicy cloves. Medium to full bodied with a pleasing goku goku chewy body. The taste has a slight candyish quality to it but you get chewy bready malts, cloves and bready banana. Quite nice, Baeren is keeping up their streak of good quality German-style brews. It hits the spot with a solid full malt body and nice spicy weizen quality. The thicker richer malt body does give it a more cold temperature feel to it.
5% a souvenir from my friend Mickey Blue Eyes. It pours a lovely cloudy straw gold with a fizzy white head that leaves a slapdash soapy looking lacing.
The nose is of chewy wheat/light malts, a fine clove spiciness but with an unfortunate buttery off-flavor lurking in the background. The taste is crackery wheat, mild buttery popcorn diacetyl off-flaver & some light spices. Overall, it is OK but could be much better starting with getting rid of that diacetyl character.
The only witbier of the day comes out of Chicago's Revolution Brewey and pours a great looking cloudy straw gold with a picture perfect head of dense white foam that leaves generous lacing clinging to the sides of the weizen glass.
The nose is wheat & spices with lots of cloves and hints of cinnamon/coriander. It has a very nice flavor profile featuring coriander, chewy wheat, a hint of orange peal and a hefty handful of spicy cloves. The mouthfeel is silky smooth but has a crisp finish that has your mouth watering for more. One of the bests of the day.
If I had to place them in order for these 4 bottles I'd go:
Baeren Winter Weizen
Revolution Bottom Up Wit
Fujizakura Weizen
Hidatakayama Weizen
But with a fresh Fujizakura Weizen it'd probably jump to the top of the list. What're you drinking today?
Yes, i think the fuji weizen has changed again and yes, that bearen weizen is quite nice, right now.
ReplyDeleteAbout 700 a pint at i brew is good drinking.
Yeah I don't know what it was with the Fuji, like I said a past date bottle but hopefully they aren't messing around with the original recipe. With the amount of weizens they make you'd think they could leave an award-winning core beer alone and not mess with it.
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