Schneider Weisse Hopfenweisse (8.2%)

Not too many breweries can claim to have originated a beer style, and even fewer can say they have invented two styles. One belonging to the latter group is Kelheim, Germany’s G. Schneider & Sohn, more commonly known as Schneider Weisse, standard bearers of the Bavarian weissbier style and originators of both the weizen doppelbock (Aventinus) and, in collaboration with the Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver, the hoppy wheat beer style widely recognized as hopfenweisse.

Designed to blend Schneider’s classic approach to wheat beer with the American proclivity towards hop-forward beers – or, at least, what was a proclivity in 2008, when this beer was born – Hopfenweisse was enough of a success that its name was taken on as the style’s name, triggering a boom in hoppy, Bavarian-style wheat beers that lasted for the better part of a decade, and continues in a more muted form to this day. As Brooklyn no longer makes its version of the beer, Schneider stands alone as the benchmark of the style.

Pretty much whenever I have enjoyed this beer, I have at the same time found it slightly disconcerting. The reason for this is that I have a very specific idea of what I expect of a Schneider product, whether it’s the bright citrus and spice of the Helle Weisse, the black peppery fruit of the Original, or the rich depths of Aventinus. Here, however, from the very first sniff through the entire tasting experience, Schneider takes me on a journey most unexpected.

Poured properly, which is to say with the bottle-conditioning yeast agitated from the bottom of the bottle, this pours a cloudy, sandy gold – a trifle cloudier, perhaps, than a conventional Schneider Weisse Original. On the nose, the surprises start, with a Hallertau hop-accented aroma offering leafy, slightly spicy, grassy hop over top of a fruity character that mixes mandarin orange with baked banana and a suggestion of clove.

The flavour likewise is a departure from the Schneider norm, with a bit of fruit salad up front, banana mixing with orange and other citrus, even a little mango. This is followed by the arrival of the hopfen- aspect of the beer in the form of a steadily rising hop bitterness that begins with notes of green leafiness, then grows more earthy and a bit grapefruity, and finally finishes with citrus peel and a frankly unexpected warmth.

As much as I find this a surprising beer – every single time I drink it! – even more unusual is its strength, hence the “unexpected” character of the alcohol warmth on the finish. From start to almost finish, this drinks like a beer closer to 6% than 8%, and it is only at the end that its proper strength reveals itself – something easy to overlook unless the drinker is paying attention! Thus a note of caution is added to this review, lest a pair of hastily quaffed half-litres find you in a condition also most unexpected.

80 ($4.20/500 ml)