Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier

I like the drawing of the smug, yet peaceful, old monk on the label of this half liter bottle. The plush head fills up my dimpled round pint glass. The aroma is initially floral, but gives way to some yeast and skank. Franziskaner is a fairly watery and malty hefe that has some bitterness and astringency in the finish. Like other brews of this kind, it gets more flavorful as one reaches the bottom of the bottle. Enjoyable enough, but not the best.

Bottle. Poured a hazy, golden color with a nice white head and great lacing. The beer had a distinct aroma of cloves and banana. The beer has a medium body, creamy texture, lively carbonation, and a nice long finish. The flavor was just as good as the aroma with a very distinct clove, banana, and spice taste. Overall, I absolutely love this beer. I like how the beer tastes like it smells. It is also good with a lemon slice in it.

50 cl Bottle. It poured a cloudy golden liquid with a huge creamy foam that left allot of lacing. It smelled allot of sweet bananas, very nice. Im not sure how common this candy is outside Sweden, but I relate it to something called foam banana. The taste is very fizzy at first, then I feel the sweet banana flavour. The overall impression is that this is a very well balanced beer and one of the best wheat beers I’ve tried.

500ml on tap at the Bavarian Bier Cafe, O’Connell St, Sydney. Even better than the superb dunkel version. It pours a clear gold colour, with a medium head. Extremely limited bitterness, it is instead full of some lovely weissbier floral and fruity notes. Exceptionally crisp and refreshing, it finshes with just the slightest hint of mango.

Pours medium golden, hazy, with rocky white head that releases the aromas quite well. Nose is restrained compared to some other weissbiers I’ve sampled recently, but a light banana/clove is clearly present with some bready components. Palate is more wheat cracker malty than big banana/clove, with more breadiness overall especially from the yeast esters.

Bottle. Aroma of wheat, hop. Full taste with spices, a lot of wheat, full body. Creamy head growing and staying long.

Not sure why I haven’t reviewed this old friend until now. Cloudy opaque light goldenrod color with a healthy off-white cap of dense foam. Lots of bubble columns help maintain the retention. Nice ripe banana aroma with some bubblegum, lemon, and light clove. Slightly green banana flavor with some light citric tanginess and a sprinkling of clove. Silky texture is interrupted by the overly rambunctious carbonation. After some time and swirling, it settles down and the mouthfeel improves. Very drinkable and refreshing.

Bottle. Pours hazy yellow with thick white head. Aroma of banana, cloves, yeast. Flavor is heavy banana with some citrus and clove. Solid beer, good summer beer.