Dunkles Weissbier

Historical Development

Here we are again, transported to the royal court of Duke Maximillian I in seventeenth-century Bavaria for the beginnings of what we'll eventually know as Dunkles Weissbier. If you haven't seen our posts on Hefeweizen, Helles Bock, Dunkles Bock, and Munich Dunkel, you may want to glance through those posts for more info on that period. For now, we'll recap with a brief history: shortly after Duke Maximillian I took over for his father Duke Wilhelm V, he inherited the right to brew beer with wheat from the family of the now-dead Duke Degenberg. When Maximillian started producing wheat beer in a new brewery in Munich for his court, that made the style explode in popularity…if the royals were drinking it, it was a sign of social and political class.

At this point, we know a few things about the style we now call Hefeweizen: it was called weissbier, which translates not as "wheat beer," but as "white beer." These beers, like their modern descendents, would have included 50% or more of the much lighter-colored wheat malt, making them significantly lighter than their lagered counterparts. It's a relative certainty that though these beers were labeled "white" by the locals, they were anything but the straw-pale versions we know and love today. Given that malts during this period were produced using wood smoke as the drying agent, nearly every batch of barley malt would have had a dark enough hue to easily turn these brews into the amber range (see our post on Munich Dunkel for more on malting history).

Though this is a little speculative, there is evidence beyond malting history to guide us toward that conclusion. For most of the 1800s, it made economical sense to only brew lagers during the cold months. Even still, they took over the world as the drink of choice (see our posts on Pilsner and Czech Premium Pale Lager for more). It wasn't until 1871 that Carl von Linde's first commercial refrigeration machine went into use, and it did so in the Spaten lager brewery in Munich. It's a bit ironic, then, that with both the taste of drinkers and technology moving toward lager production, Georg Schneider I bought the rights to brew wheat beer from the Wittelsbach family in 1872, becoming the very first "commoner" to own that right.

We've got a good window into the first brews Schneider produced, since their TAP7, previously called "Mein Original" is brewed using the same recipe as it was in the 1870s. When you order one of these, you'll be poured a light amber (almost burnt orange) beer, not the straw-pale hefeweizen we're familiar with today. This suggests that even in the 1800s, weissbier was brewed to darker color than we're accustomed today.

Dunkels Weissbier existed through this period too, and though they're still much less popular than pale hefeweizen, they're an interesting and unique brew that pair with a range of food as well as any beer you'll find. The spicy yeast character compliments curries and thai food, the caramelly maltiness cools peppery heat, and the high carbonation can refresh your palate from rich fatty sauces. Though it won't be a mainstay at the pub, we love tradition and lesser-known styles at Black Flannel, so you'll likely find one of these on our tap list from time to time.

Modern Evolution

Bavaria has a wheat beer brewing traditional hundreds of years old, but the brewing right was reserved for Bavarian royalty until the late 1700s. Old-fashioned Bavarian wheat beer was often dark, as were most beer of the day. Pale weissbier started to become popular in the 1960s, but traditional dark wheat beer remained somewhat of an old person's drink. Characteristic Ingredients: By German brewing tradition, at least 50% of the grist must be malted wheat, although some versions use up to 70%; the remainder is usually Munich, Vienna, or dark or caramel wheat malts, or Pilsner malt with color malt. A decoction mash is traditional, but infrequently used today. Weizen ale yeasts produce the typical spicy and fruity character, although extreme fermentation temperatures can affect the balance and produce off-flavors.