Uerige Weizen

Brewed by Uerige Obergärige Hausbrauerei
Style: German Hefeweizen
Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Tap at Uerige, march 07. Clear golden color with a medium white head. Aroma is of bananas but very restrained. Tastes of cloves, some nuts and a gentle aromatic ending. Mouthfeel is medium to light, bitter spicy aftertaste. Not bad, but I will stick to the lushy alt.

A hefe with alt qualities and in a way I am reminded of the Sunner Hefe which has klosh like qualities. I liked a hefe with notes of pepper. Page 467 of Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide and only 230 of his 500 Classic Brews to go.

Draught at the brewpub. Lightly hazy golden, small dense head. Fruity nose wih some banana. Medium bodied with spritzy mouthfeel. Evidently estery, but more in the altbier sort of way than the weihenstephaner. Short spritzy finish. A good cross of weizen and altbier.

Fliptop from the flughafen. A beautifully rounded specimen. Sourish, slightly rubbery nose. A touch of characteristic alty clementine fruit, developing into almost lambic sourness. Tart but appetisingly cereally with fresh wheat after the swallow. A tragedy I only brought one 330cl bottle home and,worse, had to share it.

Bottle at the brewpub. Cloudy yellow colour. Semi-stable, creamy white head. The flavour is very subtle, has a little citronvand. Not much wheat beer character, no banana or anything like that. No flaws, though.

Bottle @ Zum Uerige Brauhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Mid-afternoon and this place was mad, and then there was me with a notebook and no chair to sit on - the kerb outside became a new best friend. Big crack as the swing-stop released from the seal. Very lively indeed. Cloudy, yellow gold as it settles down into the glass provided. Massive, flustering eddies of fine bubbles saw it become 40% head atop the beer, a rocky, snow-white crown that lasted to daub well down the sides. Dominant wheat nose, strong beyond your typical grains. Soft wholemeal bread, yeast, dough, in fact this smells like a bakery at dawn - no wonder Düsseldorfer’s call it morning beer. Underlying notes of sour lemons tickle the nose and grow more pronounced as it goes. Again, quite wheaty in the mouth, toasted cereal grains, whole wheat kernels, wheat bread, wheat, wheat, wheat! This is liquid bread. Its bready and yeasty across the main of the palate, sour, tart in back with a slightly plastic finish that scars it deeply. The body is ultra-light despite the grainy flavour, the carbonation quite soft. This was nice, though flat-line for complexity, yet sat second fiddle to the other strange Düsseldorf wheat beers I was to taste. Different!!! (50cL swing-stopper, no date marked)

Bottled at the Uerige Pub Murky, yellow body. Creamy white head. Fair lace. Lacks aroma. Lightly sweet, lightly bitter flavour (somewhat fruity: oranges).

Quite hard to rate, as this beer doesn’t fit a classic hefe style, and didn’t meet to my likings. Poured a cloudy pale yellow color with a nice head, yet not overwhelmingly impressive. Retention was ok, as was the lacing. Aroma was fruity, melons, maybe a touch of hops. Flavor included light fruits, citrus (some sourness behind it all), melons, pineapples, and a touch of bubblegum. Bananas were noteably near absent, and the spicing that is typical of a hefe yeast was completely absent. I asked if this one had a standard hefe yeast in it and the waiter said it does, but that it was a yeast customized for Uerige. Well, that’s all fine and good, leading to a unique take on the style, but missing some pretty basic fundamentals if you’re expecting a hefeweizen. Mouthfeel was light to moderate and not overly carbonated. Surely drinkable, an interesting interpretation on the style, but I’d rather just have a Franziskaner, Paulaner, Schneider, or Erdinger. Don’t waste much liver on this one if you’re at Uerige: head for the alt or the sticke.