Hefe Madness – Round 1 – Paulaner Hefe-Weizen vs. Erdinger Weissbier

By on May 26, 2009 @ 7 PM (No Comments)

Note: This is the The BeerFathers Hefe Madness Tournament, where we put eight hefeweizens head-to-head in a beer tournament to end all beer tournaments, March Madness style. See the original post here. All beers are consumed in weizen glasses with John and Beer Love neighbor Josh serving as the judges.

Round 1, Beer Battle 4

Hefe Madness Round 1, Battle 4

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen comes in as the number four seed in the hefeweizen tournament, thanks to it’s “A-” rating at BeerAdvocate.com and overall 90 rating at RateBeer.com. The 12 oz bottles cost $1.99/each.

Erdinger Weissbier comes in as the number five seed in the hefeweizen tournament, thanks to it’s “B” rating at BeerAdvocate.com and overall 53 rating at RateBeer.com. The 12 oz bottles cost $2.39/each.

This is the final match up from round 1 and on paper is the closest as the number 4 seed faces the number 5 seed. This is where upsets tend to happen in March Madness, so who knows what to expect? We do have two German hefes battling it out so anything can happen. The ratings difference at BeerAdvocate and RateBeer both favor Paulaner, but individual tastes vary.

(5) Erdinger Weissbier

The Erdinger Weissbier gave us a huge 4″ foamy white head that left a good amount of head lacing as it dissipated very slowly. There was a medium to lively amount of carbonation and the straw to yellow body had just a slight cloudiness to it.

The aromas came at us with biscuit, lemon, some nondescript citrus, light banana and some pepper. The flavors really didn’t ring true though and hit us with the nondescript citrus, soap, pepper and some cardboard. Not balanced and not memorable at all.

There just isn’t a lot of taste in this one. What’s there is very light and not too impressive. And as it warms it gets a wet cardboard and soapy smell and the taste just blands out. I don’t think it’s crafted too well at all. It makes no statement and tastes like a generic beer, like the bottle should just say BEER on the side of it – like an American macro nothing beer. Where’s the complexity?

Overall score for the Erdinger: 3 out of 10

(4) Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

The Paulaner gave us a nice large 3″ foamy white head on our initial pour that left a fair amount of head lacing as it dissipated slowly. There was little to no carbonation to speak of and there was a good murky haze to the yellow/gold body.

The aromas were biscuit, light lemon, orange, banana, bubble gum and pepper. A good nose to it all told. The flavors were biscuit, light caramel, toffee, lemon, orange, banana and pepper. A winner of a flavor profile.

It’s a very strong hefe with good tastes that make you think there’s something more lurking in there. Much bolder than the Erdinger and the bubble gum starts showing up in the smell more as it warms. It’s got a nice caramel/toffee edge to it as it warms. A real taste sensory cyclone.

Overall score for the Paulaner: 7 out of 10

Winner: (4) Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

Updated bracket:

Hefe Madness Bracket, Round 4

Next time: (1) Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier vs. (4) Paulaner Hefe-Weizen.


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