Hefe Madness – Semifinals – Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier vs. Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

By on June 6, 2009 @ 5 PM (1 Comment)

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.

Semifinals, Beer Battle 1

Hefe Madness Semifinals, Battle 1

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier comes in as the number one seed in the hefeweizen tournament, thanks to it’s “A” rating at BeerAdvocate.com and overall 95 rating at RateBeer.com. The 12 oz bottles cost $1.99/each.

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.

This is the start of a great semifinals as we put the two winners from round 1 head-to-head. There’s only German hefes left now and they are all highly rated and critically acclaimed. There’s very little difference between the beers at BeerAdvocate and RateBeer, so this should be fun. Since we’ve already written up tasting notes on this and all the other beers, we’ll forgo reprinting them here and just present how the beers stack up against each other. It’s worth noting we did these beers in the semifinals and finals blind and rated them as “beer left” and “beer right” as the other person served the beers and the drinker had no knowledge of which one was which until the winner was selected.

Video Notes

John’s Notes

The Paulaner has bolder flavors than the Weihenstephaner – stronger citrus, pepper and spices. It also has a strong citrus aroma to it. It also sports a better mouthfeel – more refined and thicker, closer to buttery. The Weihenstephaner has great notes to it with citrus and banana, a bit more yeast in the smell, but it has a lighter overall taste. Some people may prefer that but I’m looking for a hefe with some flavor to it. Advantage: Paulaner.

Josh’s Notes

The initial taste on the Weihenstephaner has more spices to it, with the banana coming forward on the second drink. On a big gulp the banana and citrus come through, on a double gulp it’s not as refreshing. For the Paulaner there’s a nice spice bouquet and a general smoothness to the first taste. On a big gulp it’s got a nutty and smooth edge to it and on the double gulp there’s a buttery, creamy smooth mouthfeel to it. The rally shot is still smooth with some biscuit notes coming through. Advantage: Paulaner.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our upset special – a number 4 seed knocks off a number 1 seed.

Winner: (4) Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

Updated bracket:

Hefe Madness Bracket, Round 5

Next time: (2) Ayinger Brau-Weisse vs. (3) Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse.


1 Comment (Add Your Comments)

  1. Jeff Wilson says:

    Finally… someone who agrees that Weihenstephaner is simply not as “flavorable” as some other great Hefeweizens. Paulaner, Hacker Pschoor and Benediktener, to name a few, are, in my opinion, overall better than Weihenstephaner.

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