Beer Study Buddy
← Back to styles

German Wheat Beer / 10A

Weissbier

Certified Beer Server Candidate Style Profile

Official BJCP guideline sections attached for full style exploration.

Certification exam alignment
Certified Beer Server Certified Cicerone® Advanced Cicerone® BJCP Beer Judge Entrance Exam
Source
BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines

Overall Impression

A pale, refreshing, lightly-hopped German wheat beer with high carbonation, dry finish, fluffy mouthfeel, and a distinctive banana-and-clove weizen yeast fermentation profile.

Aroma

Moderate to strong esters and phenols, typically banana and clove, often well balanced and typically stronger than the malt. Light to moderate bready, doughy, or grainy wheat aroma. Light vanilla optional. Light floral, spicy, or herbal hops optional. Bubblegum (strawberry with banana), sourness, or smoke are faults.

Appearance

Pale straw to gold in color. Very thick, moussy, long-lasting white head. Can be hazy and have a shine from wheat and yeast, although this can settle out in bottles.

Flavor

Low to moderately strong banana and clove flavor, often well balanced. Low to moderate soft, somewhat bready, doughy, or grainy wheat flavor supported by the slight Pils malt grainy sweetness. Very low to moderately low bitterness. Well-rounded, flavorful palate with a relatively dry finish. Light vanilla optional. Very low floral, spicy, or herbal hop flavor optional. Any impression of sweetness is due more to low bitterness than any residual sweetness; a sweet or heavy finish impairs drinkability. Bubblegum, sourness, or smoke are faults. While the banana-and-clove profile is important, it should not be so strong as to be extreme and unbalanced.

Mouthfeel

Medium-light to medium body; never heavy. Fluffy, creamy fullness progressing to a light, spritzy finish aided by high to very high carbonation. Effervescent.

Vital Statistics

IBU
8 - 15
SRM
2 - 6
ABV
4.3% - 5.6%

Commercial Examples

  • Ayinger Bräu Weisse
  • Distelhäuser Hell Weizen

Similar Styles: How to Tell Them Apart

Use these guideline-based sensory contrasts to organize comparative tasting practice.

Both are pale, refreshing, highly carbonated wheat beers with bready or doughy grain character. The split is fermentation character: Weissbier requires balanced banana-and-clove weizen yeast expression, while American Wheat Beer is clean-fermented, may be more hop-forward, and must not show banana or clove.

Compare with: 1D. American Wheat Beer

By aroma

  • Weissbier has moderate to strong banana and clove esters and phenols from weizen yeast, unlike American Wheat Beer's clean profile in which banana and clove are inappropriate.
  • Weissbier's banana-and-clove character typically outweighs its light to moderate bready wheat malt, while American Wheat Beer puts grainy, bready, or doughy wheat first with optional neutral esters.
  • Weissbier has only optional light floral, spicy, or herbal hops, unlike American Wheat Beer's low to moderate citrusy, spicy, floral, or fruity hop aroma.

By taste

  • Weissbier requires balanced banana and clove flavor with low to moderately low bitterness, unlike American Wheat Beer's clean wheat flavor and low to moderate bitterness.
  • Weissbier's dry, fluffy, well-rounded palate comes from weizen yeast and wheat, while American Wheat Beer may finish dry and crisp with more hop flavor and bitterness.
  • Weissbier must not be sour, smoky, or bubblegum-like; American Wheat Beer must not show the banana-and-clove profile that defines Weissbier.

Quick tell: Balanced banana and clove are the Weissbier signature.

Open official BJCP source