Wheat
Soft, hazy, and refreshing—sunshine in a glass.
Wheat adds a soft, pillowy body and hazy appearance that screams summer afternoon. German hefeweizens bring banana and clove from special yeast; Belgian wits add coriander and orange peel; American wheats keep it clean and crushable. Cloudy never looked so good.
6 styles · Best in a Weizen
18 Wheat beers in BREWTANICA™, each one read from a real label.
Styles within Wheat
Each with its region of origin.
American Wheat
USAWheat beer without the Weihenstephaner yeast character. Neutral yeast, sometimes lightly hopped, often citrus-spiked. Bell's Oberon is the reference. Lighter and less expressive than its Bavarian cousin—and that's intentional.
Dunkelweizen
GermanyDark Bavarian wheat. Takes hefeweizen's banana-clove yeast character and adds Munich malt for bread crust, caramel, and darker color. Rarer than hefe in the US but worth seeking out. Weihenstephaner and Ayinger excel here.
Gose
Tart, slightly salty and spiced with coriander. The style guide files gose as a German-origin ale, straw to light amber at 4.4–5.4% ABV; contemporary versions take the colour of added fruit. Ours prints itself a wheat beer with sea salt and coriander. Pair with seafood, ceviche or sushi.
Hefeweizen
GermanyBavarian wheat beer with the yeast suspended (hefe = yeast). Weihenstephaner yeast gives iconic banana-clove esters. Cloudy, carbonated, low-bitterness, served in a vase glass. The summer afternoon beer of record.
Shandy
The style its label prints: Shandy. Ours is Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, at 4.2% ABV.
Witbier
BelgiumBelgian wheat beer spiced with coriander and orange peel. Resurrected by Pierre Celis and Hoegaarden in the 1960s after nearly dying out. Soft, citrusy, cloudy, refreshing. Blue Moon popularized it for American drinkers.