Wheat Beer
If there is one beer any novice should try
first, it’s wheat beer. Why? Because it immediately dispels the
preconceptions that all beer is brown and bitter! This is a beer which is
ideal for someone who loves Champagne or Prosecco.
Surprisingly, wheat beer is not made entirely with wheat grain. It
typically contains between 30 to 60 percent wheat and the remainder is
malted barley. Most brewers tend to prefer barley because this grain has a
husk, which filters out the proteins. Wheat doesn’t have a husk so when we
brew with it, the beer will always appear hazy.
Where Did Wheat
Beers Come From?
Before the invention of modern lagers in the 1840’s, there were broadly two
types of beer in Bavaria: smoky, strong, lagered (“stored”) brown ales and
light, fresh tasting white or wheat beers. ( Although, as early as the 9th
century AD records survive of brewing with wheat across much of the Roman
Empire).
In 1516, Reinheitsgebot
(the ‘Beer Purity Law’) was passed in Bavaria, stating that beer could only
be brewed using barley,
hops and water, although brewers were allowed to use wheat
if they paid a higher tax on the beer.
When this tax differentiation was removed in 1602, however, wheat beers
enjoyed a massive increase in popularity, before falling out of fashion in
the 1840’s in favour of modern style lager.
Fast forward to the swinging 60’s when Pierre Celis, a diary manager, revived wheat
beer with the addition of coriander, cumin, and the dried peel of Curacao
oranges. The result was Hoegaarden,
named after his home town. The beer looked and tasted completely different
and was the first craft beer of recent origin to become a worldwide hit for
a global brewer.
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