Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse

While elsewhere it's wintertime (with what foods that entails) it's summertime here on the northern hemisphere. One of the great pleasures of summertime is enjoying a nice cool Hefeweisse on a warm day. I must say that I'm partial towards German Hefeweisse beers such as Franziskaner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr and the like. I like some of the American Hefeweizen beers too - but for different reasons, as they are somewhat different. Hefe is German for yeast and my preference is for the unfiltered Hefeweisse in half liter bottles. These of course are best served in the appropriate type of glass (as seen below).


How to pour a Hefeweisse beer:

Place the empty glass over the mouth of the bottle, quickly turn upside down and slowly - but not too slowly - pull the bottle up out of the glass. This procedure ensures the best possible mixing of the yeast in the bottle with the rest of the beer and also gives a very nice head of foam. Near the end you'll need to stop pouring - swirl the bottle in order to be able to pour out the rest of the foam.

Warning: The procedure takes some practice to perfect (indeed I know some people who never seem to learn) - if you pull the bottle up out of the glass too quickly or too slowly you'll create a mess as the foam builds up uncontrollably. I recommend doing it over a sink the first couple of times.

If you succeed the prize is a very nice glass of refreshing beer. I have fond memories of a day in Berlin years ago when I went and bought a crate of Paulaner Hefe-Weisse and dedicated my afternoon to practising pouring them..