Taste Test: German Style Wheat Beers

I've bought seven different German style cloudy wheat beers to taste test - not all were German however.   Rhian poured four of them in the kitchen and brought them through so I couldn't tell which was which.   This was repeated on a second night with the remaining three.   I have placed them in order of favourite from top to bottom;

Korenwolf was the lemoniest beer by a long way.   Very soft & light tasting and sweeter than the others.   By far my preferred drink out of the seven tried on first tastings.   The lemony-sweetness did wear a bit towards the end of the drink though.   Out of the seven beers, one of only two to come from outside of Germanyi - this is from Holland.   It does come in a blue bottle which is just a marketing gimmick as it offers little light protection from the more energetic blue-UV wavelengths, although this isn't so important in beers with next to no hop bitterness.   I don't usually buy beer in clear or blue glass.

Co-Op Wheat Beer (brewed by Arcobrau) was quite a way behind  the Korenwolf but the next best.   There was definitely the stereotypical banana flavour associated with wheat beer with some caramel.   A much more dry beer in the true German style.

Schneider Weisse was a darker beer than the others.   Not suprisingly it had a more malty flavour, but also had a stereotypical clove-like flavour and slightly phenolic taste.

Erdinger Weissbier was a dry, light, citrussy beer.

Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier had a dry taste with a little smokey & phenolic flavour.   There was also an acidic aftertaste.  

Waitrose Bavarian Weissbier had the sterotypical cloves taste of a German style wheat beer.   Another dry beer, a little phenolic.   Number six in the rankings for the night but not far behind the Co-Op & Weihenstephan.   This beer has tasted better on previous occasions.

Weissbier Etalon was the other non-German beer - from Ukraine.   This had the distinctive banana flavour but was a little watery and grainy.