Top to bottom: Burrata, Franklin’s Teleme, Laura Chenel Cabécou
Wheat Beer, Witbier, Weissbier, and Hefeweizen
STYLE NOTES: When the occasion calls for a thirst-quenching beverage, many beer lovers reach for a wheat beer. These popular pale brews have an easy quaffability thanks to their relatively low alcohol, brisk effervescence, and modest bitterness.
Many brewers make wheat beer—some year-round—and styles vary greatly. American, Belgian, and German approaches have some aspects in common, but noticeable differences, too.
Despite their name, wheat beers are rarely made entirely from wheat. More typically, wheat accounts for 30 to 50 percent of the grain base, with malted barley, and occasionally oats, making up the rest. High in protein, the wheat contributes a silky, viscous texture and an especially luxuriant head.
Most wheat beers have a pale straw to pale gold hue. Many are unfiltered, with a hazy or even cloudy aspect. Traditional recipes rely on pale malts—in some brews, the wheat isn’t malted at all—so wheat beers don’t offer much, if any, toast or toffee aroma. Brewers use a light hand with hops to keep from dominating the subtle malt, so most wheat beers aren’t hugely aromatic. Their appeal lies in their drinkability and freshness, welcome qualities at a warm-weather lunch or at the start of a meal.
And now for the differences. The classic Belgian witbier (Flemish for “white beer”) is brewed with spices and other fragrant additions, typically dried bitter-orange peel and coriander. The aroma from these seasonings is subdued but detectable, along with other fruity notes, a lemony tartness, and a faint honeyed scent. Some tasters discern a floury fragrance or the scent of cooked pasta, probably from the unmalted wheat used in the brew. Witbiers have a creamy mouthfeel; a fine, full effervescence; and a dry finish. Beers with blanche (French for “white”) in the name are likely to be either witbiers from the French-speaking southern half of Belgium or Belgian-style witbiers from the New World.
German and German-style wheat beers have their own nomenclature. In the German tradition, the term weissbier (“white beer”) or hefeweizen (“yeast wheat”) indicates a brew made from at least 50 percent malted wheat. Unlike their Belgian counterparts, these beers aren’t spiced. Their signature fragrance suggests banana, cloves, and yeast, reminiscent of a slice of warm banana bread. They have the cloudiness, prickly carbonation, and low bitterness of other wheat beers and no noticeable hops aroma. A few breweries make a dunkelweizen (“dark wheat” beer), using wheat plus darker malts. These pale amber beers have a more layered scent of banana, vanilla, and caramel and can have a slightly sour finish.
American wheat beers march to their own drummer, of course. They may or may not have Belgian-style spicing (check the label) or the banana and clove scent attributable to German yeasts. They may be cloudy or clear, but most examples will conform to the European model of pale color, modest alcohol, light hopping, and restrained bitterness.
BEERS TO TRY: Allagash White; Anchor Brewing Summer Beer; Ayinger Ur-Weisse; Blanche de Bruxelles; Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse; Hitachino Nest White Ale; Napa Smith Ginger Wheat Beer; New Belgium Sunshine Wheat; Ommegang Witte; Pyramid Hefeweizen; Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse; St. Bernardus Witbier; Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen.
CHEESE AFFINITIES: To match the understated personality of a wheat beer, look primarily to young, fresh cheeses with simple buttery or milky flavors. These soft, supple cheeses appreciate the firm carbonation of wheat beer, and they match the beer in modest flavor intensity. Context plays a role, too. On a balmy summer evening, a wheat beer suits the moment, especially with an appetizer of goat cheese and roasted beets or a feta-sprinkled Greek salad.
Burrata is mozzarella’s richer and more fashionable relative, a southern Italian specialty now made in America. At a glance, it may look like a conventional ball of mozzarella, but burrata hides a secret. Slice into it to reveal the luscious filling, a mixture of mozzarella curds and heavy cream. Freshness is paramount; within a week, burrata can begin to sour. Well-made burrata has a thin skin and a creamy, buttery, sweet interior with just a hint of cultured-milk tang. Pair it with sliced tomatoes or roasted red peppers and a cold wheat beer.
Franklin Peluso, a third-generation California cheesemaker, produces the cheese his grandfather created, a 6-pound cow’s milk square now known as Franklin’s Teleme. Lightly dusted with rice flour, the floppy square stands about 2 inches tall and is ripened for only two weeks before release. At that youthful stage, it is soft, mild, and buttery, with a sour-cream fragrance. If allowed to mature for another three to four weeks, it becomes silky inside, even runny, with appetizing mushroom aromas. At any stage, it has a delicacy suited to wheat beer.
Laura Chenel Cabécou, from the California creamery that popularized goat cheese in the United States, is a fresh, rindless chèvre packed in olive oil with herbs and peppercorns. The little disks weigh only about 1½ ounces each, ideal for one person. Warming them in the oven until they quiver makes them irresistible. But even at room temperature, they have a pleasing creamy texture, herbaceous fragrance, and lively tang. Accompany with roasted peppers or roasted tomatoes, a crusty baguette, and wheat beer.
MORE CHEESES TO TRY: Asiago Fresco; Bellwether Farms Crescenza; Chaumes; feta; fresh goat cheese (no rind); Jasper Hill Farm Constant Bliss; mozzarella.
