Beer Advent Calendar - December 14th

Hefeweizen, a quintessential German beer. The name means yeast and wheat. This is a simple, refreshing style which I’ve enjoyed locally brewed and imported from Germany straight from the tap. Let’s see if that comes through in this can.

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Huber Weisses Original

The beer’s appearance is fitting of the style: a cloudy, saturated golden wheat color. A thick head builds and hangs for a short while, dissipating to a creamy whipped topping. Yeast scents hit my nose as I lift the glass to drink.

The flavor profile is rounded out pretty well with standards of the style: lemons, wheat grains, subtle floral hops, and a hint of banana from the yeast. For some reason this brew doesn’t come across as refreshing as other hefeweizens. I thought I could occasionally detect a sort of salty, iodine, or metal flavor on the finish.

The off tastes on the finish weren’t strong enough for me to say they totally ruin this beer, but I can’t deny something was lacking when compared to other hefeweizens. I’d like to think this beer presents much better when enjoyed on tap, rather than being shipped halfway across the world in a can.

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Freising, Germany

Another beautiful Bavarian location near Munich, Freising is one of the oldest settlements in the state. Since sometime in the 700s the city has remained an important religious locale, and where you have middle age monks, you have brewing.

^{Freising square and St. George Church}

The monastery of Weihenstephan Abbey can trace their brewing origins to 768. Gaining a license from the city as an official brewery in 1040, this makes Weihenstephan Brewery the oldest working brewer in the world. Not to lead you astray, but they didn't brew today's beer.

The featured brewer today, Hofbrauhaus Freising, traces their roots to the same monastery hill of Weihenstephan. Hofbrauhaus first started brewing in 1160 and along with Weihenstephan became property of the state of Bavaria in the great German secularization in 1803.

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In 1812 the Hofbrauhaus was purchased by the Archduchess Maria Leopoldine along with two other breweries, and in 1860 the brewmaster developed today’s beer: Freisinger Weizen, now called Huber Weisses. The current brew facility was built in 1911 and the structure was designed to closely resemble the original Hofbrauhaus on monastery hill.

It's worth mentioning that Hofbrauhaus Freising is not related to the Hofbräuhaus of Munich founded in 1589, the latter being more widely known in the United States.

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_{Beer photographs by me. Pictures of Germany sources: 1 - 2 - 3}

_{Previous Advent Calendar entries: Intro - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13}