The History of Wheat Beers

As you may have noticed, I have had the tendency to review quite a few wheat beers.  In the poll I placed on this blog, wheat beer is also showing itself as the steadfast favorite of the readers, and many people request reviews of wheat beers on a consistent basis.  However, wheat beer has not been as popular as it is today for quite some time, despite being one of the oldest styles of beer in our history, as well as being the beer most similar to the original beer that I mention in my article, The Origin of Beer.  So, today I am going to go back in history and detail the rollercoaster ride that wheat beer has gone through, and all of the obstacles that had almost wiped this style off of the face of the Earth.

The wheat didn't fall far from the beer tree

There are a number of different kinds of wheat beer, but they pretty much all fall into two categories (with a couple exceptions).  These categories are mainly separated by region; the historical witbier comes from the Brussels area in Belgium and the historical weissbier comes from Germany.  The most renowned of the weissbiers is the hefeweizen, which is a term for wheat beer in its natural, unfiltered form.  The origin of wheat beer itself, however, comes from Babylon, around the year 2000 BC.  The Babylonian god, Marduk, was the beer brewing god and wielded a pickaxe, which became the earliest known brewer's emblem.  This god brewed and drank a beer that combined wheat mash with barley mash in the brewing process.  If you would note, Babylon occupied the same area that the Mesopotamians occupied, which could be why this wheat beer was so similar to the first beer ever created.

Germanic Tribes helped the spread of weissbier

As I highlighted in the Origin of Beer, beer existed in Egypt at this point as well, with the first recorded evidence of a brewery being written on a clay tablet that dated back to 1600 BC.  It is believed that the Egyptians also brewed wheat beer during this time period.  By 800 BC, wheat beer had begun to be brewed on German soil.  Evidence shows that the style survived and continued to thrive during the time of Christ, with the Romans referring to the weissbier as a "drink of savages".  Weissbier would continue to be a choice of refreshment among the Germanic tribes for a long time to come, with several famines causing the beer to fade away as wheat was deemed needed for bread instead of beer, followed by the beer returning to relevance once wheat became more available.

The first beer brewery in Munich arrived in 815.  However, food shortages and other political events made it extremely hard for many of the brewers to establish themselves, and wheat beer almost died away.  In 1363 we find the first evidence of the "brewery near the Franciscans", which was on the opposite corner of a Franciscan monastery.  This is where the name "Franziskaner" comes from.  Franziskaner is the oldest privately owned brewery in Munich, still brewing wheat beer to this day.

The Bavarian Purity Law

Meanwhile, wheat beer is not documented in Belgium until 1445, east of Brussels.  The witbier became extremely popular throughout the 1500s, and separated itself from the flock with the use of coriander and orange peel in the brewing process.  However, while the witbier was flourishing in the 1500s, the weissbier ran into some troubles.  In 1516, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria issued the Bavarian Purity Law, which outlaws any beers brewed with anything other than malt, hops, and water.  Although wheat can be used in malt form, the new law severely limits weissbier by not allowing the use of yeast.  With weissbier already struggling, a near fatal blow is dealt in 1567 when Duke Albrecht IV of Bavaria declares that weissbier is unhealthy and outlaws it entirely.

During the struggles that weissbier endured in the 1500s, witbier continued to remain popular in other areas.  Almost as if on opposite sides of a swinging pendulum, the two styles of beer continued to flourish and flounder while the other style was doing the opposite.  In 1602, Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria placed all of the weissbier breweries under state ownership after determining that not only is weissbier safe, but it is refreshing.  This is actually a move that was performed to balance the budget, and due to violation of the Bavarian Purity Law, Duke Maximillion I agreed to pay a fine to the chamber of representatives.  As weissbier made its return, witbier began to fade away once again, this time fading almost into extinction through famines, wars, and the great movement toward lagers in the 1900s.

The town of Hoegaarden now holds a piece of beer history

Weissbier suffered a similar decline as people in the area began to move to brown ale and other dark beers.  In 1798, Prince-Elector Theodore of Bavaria suspended the state ownership of weissbier breweries, as they were no longer profitable to the state.  Although weissbier had a much longer heritage than witbier and more periods of prosperity, it would be the witbier style that would eventually allow wheat beers to flourish once again.  In 1966, a man by the name of Pierre Celis established the De Kluis Brewery next to his home in a small Belgian town called Hoegaarden.  This man would later be known as one of the greatest and most influential minds in modern brewing, and his product would set the industry standard for Belgian Style witbiers.

Wheat beer is yummy!

The resurgance of witbier on the world scale brought attention back to the German weissbier as well, allowing breweries such as Franziskaner to begin to flourish once again.  Since then, the Belgian and German recipes have been imitated or replicated in many other countries, including the United States with the most notable names being Blue Moon, Leinenkugel's and Sam Adams.  Mainstream macrobreweries have also presented their own renditions of wheat beer as well, such as the new Bud Light Golden Wheat.  Despite the rough patches in the history of wheat beers, we all can be thankful that this style of beer has pulled through to remain with us today.  The sweet, spiced, and crisp qualities of a witbier and the clean, smooth, sweet taste in a weissbier will forever remain a refreshment on a sunny summer day.

So, now that you know the history of wheat beers, perhaps when you are enjoying one; perhaps you already are even as you are reading this, (if you are smart, and can read and drink wheat beer at the same time that is) now you can appreciate the great heritage and tradition that has brought that beer into your glass.  Or perhaps you don't really care about that and just want a good beer- and have found just that in your hefeweizen glass.  Either way, thanks for reading and keep drinking good beer!