The german brewers just go to show that producing large amounts of beer need not be any barrier to quality and taste.

I cannot believe I am watching a video of a guy drinking beer in his conservatory ..... and absolutely loving it. I don't even like wheat beer and I want some! Well done.

Erdinger is actually the largest family owned wheat beer brewery in Germany, and is not part of a big brewery group. Franziskaner, although, is owned by Inbev. Paulaner is part of the Paulaner brewery group, Weihenstephan is owned by the Bavarian state, and Schneider Weisse is also family owned.

The real debate for me is at £2.25 a bottle is weihenstephaner the best pound for pound supermarket beer of any type available in the uk. For me it’s a resounding yes. One of the extraordinary things is it’s still of a similar price point of a large 660ml bottle of cat piss madri. It’s a mad mad world

Well done! Great job! Truly: 5. Erdinger; 4. Schneider; 3. Paulaner; 2. Franziskaner; 1. WeihenStephaner!!!!!!! 🍺🍻👍

When I discovered Weissbier many years ago, I never looked back while staying in Germany. I chose a Weihenstephaner to celebrate my birthday the other day, Luckily I have a Sainsbury 10 minutes down the road. I picked it after your previous mentions. Most of the time go for fruity, citrus IPAs as every day is not so special. Great contest you made it, with all your flavour notes brought out. 🍻🍻🍻🍻

There are different kinds of Weissbier in Germany like Helles Weissbier (light colour), Dunkles Weissbier (dark colour), Kristall Weizen (Filtered), alkoholfreies Weizen (no alcohol), leichtes Weissbier (cheaper, because of the reduced °P and alcohol the tax is lower) or Berliner Weisse (It's a sour beer, but it is usually drunk in the summer with raspberry sirup or woodruff sirup - very refreshing). Me personally I would rank those beers this way: 1. Schneider Weisse Dunkel (Tap 7) 2. Weihenstephaner 3. Franziskaner 4. Paulaner 5. Erdinger Thats because I realy love dark Weissbier. If i would have been the Tap 1 from Schneider (Hell), then I would swap the first two places. Aventinus (Tap 6), a Weizen Doppelbock, is also realy great. The realy good stuff is from smaller breweries from the bavarian and Black Forest regions (like Alpirsbacher, Wieninger, Baisinger, Meckatzer, Keiler Bier), but those are realy hard to get here in northern germany.

Knew Weihanstephaner would be no. 1 without even watching the video. It’s that good.

We bumped into each other walking around the bay couple of weeks ago, mentioned a Wiess beer off 👍🏻 great review.

Been waiting for this one! Great review. really detailed. I imagine that helps a lot of people decide on what to try.. The winner is a sensational pick.

Great review, really useful hearing where they can be picked up

As a half British/half German man living in Belgium, I love your channel, Simon, but I REALLY loved this video! :) Barely any German beers are on sale in Belgium, sadly, to protect the local products, so I have to quickly drive over the border to pick up some crates for an outrageously good price. (Like water in Germany.) My family is from the North of Germany, so I was curious if you have tried Jever? Great video, and I have enjoyed watching your back catalogue, which gives me my British culture fix as well :) (Incidentally, Paulaner in the German pronunciation is Pow-lana, as in ‘Lana Turner’.)

@SwollenSatyr

8 ай бұрын

I found your Jever review, Simon! :) I should have checked first! Great!

@Hereward47

4 күн бұрын

I have always enjoyed Jever when I go to Hamburg (I’m from England)

Great video Simon! was talking about a few of these on the live stream last week, although weihenstephaner is my all time fave but Franziskaner for availability and price would be my go to, not much between them taste wise, deffo go to the brewery and then the bar / restaurant afterwards if you get the chance

Just tried the Asda Champigneulles at £1.20 - wow, there's not much wrong with that - and a lot cheaper. Much better than the mass brewed stuff i usually buy, glad i came across your channel

I love my Paulaner and Weihenstephaner. Haven't been able to get my hands on Franziskaner. Been wanting to try it.

Your enthusiasm and passion for quality beers is infectious! ❤

Glad you've included all the big hitters and not missed any out. My favourite 2 personally although happy with any are the franzeskiener and weinstapher the Germans Czechs and Belgians are just so good at making the most out of simple ingredients and perfecting the art of brewing not adding loads of flavours and additives to beers which seems to be the trend over here and for me you can taste them a mile away

Erdinger got me back into Wheat beers recently absolutely love it and looking forward to trying the others!

@21:53 Had me in stitches: "...For the Franziskaner, I can go everywhere..(takes a deep breath..wait for it)..BURP!!". Why we are all lovin' ya Simon and more! Burp! I mean Cheers!!!🍻😉😂 🍻

What you said about the Schneider having a malty finish makes sense because I do love the malty taste Heinekens and kronnenberg

You're great you fella. Such a love for beer and also entertaining.

König Ludwig Weissbier "Hell" is one of my favourite Weizeners. Scents of cloves, banana and wheat with fine notes of citrus. I wanted to add a very affordable "cheap" beer (50cl €1 at my supermarket🍻). I'm in the Netherlands though, so before commenting I checked the UK prices. WTH £3.80 for 50cl?!?. Not so cheap at all in the UK. I also learned that König Ludwig is a holding of the Warsteiner Group. Didn't know that. Anywhoo, Loving your channel, keep up the good work mate, Take care. Cheers!!!🍺🍺🍺

I've had Franziskaner, Paulaner & Erdinger mainly because like yourself my nearest Sainsburys is like 20 miles away, and I clocked Franz & Erdinger in Lidl's (the Paula was via Tescos), and only bought them cus I loved Hogaarden and thought I'd try them... Oh my! Amazing! All 3 of them, I get 4 of each every time I'm in the store now! lol. Isn't so good for the old Gout though, and she who must be obeyed cracks up a tad! But such is life!!! lol. 1st class review sir! Keep up the good work! :)

I'm not back long from a msc cruise in Southampton and really did not know what to drink, decided on Stella with no better choice. The barman told he'd no more left and really began to worry what am I going to do. He asked me what I drink at home, I said wheat beer, he said i have loads of paulaner. Happy days.

Watch you a lot..........love the channel. Sometimes it's good, sometimes its meh........this was Genius!!! Best wishes from Scotland Simon, take a bow......this is what we want!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weihenstephaner is the very best IMO, and available in Sainsbury and Waitrose.

@GreggFellows

8 ай бұрын

had a nice Weihenstephaner Vitus the other day, excelllent stuff

Weihenstephaner available at Sainsburys and Waitrose. The Franziskaner pretty much anywhere. I like them all. One of my favourites isnt even German. I LOVE Benedictiner from Adnams.

Franziskaner is my favorite beer. I found out about it when my previous favorite (St Stafanus by Van Steenberge) was changed too Agustijn blonde and I could no longer find it. I’ve since found it and it is still very good. Now I’ve got two favorites

Paulaner was my first Wheat beer with a lemon and its amazing and i to have great memories of drinking it!!!!!!! Cheers !!! Awesome review my good buddy!!

M&S by me still stock the Paulaner (£2.50). However I cleared the shelf today !

Great review, really enjoy your channel. I'm passionate about Weissbiers, they are pretty much all I drink.. over the years I have drunk all of them on multiple occasions.. my order of favourite would be 1. Weihenstephaner 2. Paulaner 3. Franziskaner 4. Erdinger 5. Schneider Weisse, Schneider Weisse just isn't to my taste. I will say I do still enjoy an Erdinger a lot, just need to be in a certain mood for it.

I'd just opened a bottle of Schneider when I saw this and excited. Great comparison. Agree the Erdinger is perfectly drinkable and you know what you are going to get...it's just a all round drinker. The others are just another step up. For me I always get the Schneider when I go to Sainsbury's as nowhere else sells it

I had paulaner in Munich on draft. Utterly gorgeous!!! Coming home the bottles just don’t quite capture the essence of draught. Still, buying my franziskaner for tonight’s stoned crow ☺️

@Hereward47

8 ай бұрын

Same here, the beer halls in Munich are a must visit for any beer lover.

@JimmiG84

8 ай бұрын

I was in Munich a few weeks ago. Visited the Augustiner Keller, Hofbräukeller, Paulaner Bräuhaus, Der Pschorr among many others. I actually think the Weissbiers hold up pretty well and taste nearly the same here in Sweden. For me, the lagers actually differ more since they have such subtle, delicate flavors from the noble hops and malt. They're a little flat and harsh in a bottle/can vs fresh. It's a tough call between Paulaner and Weihenstephaner for me too, though my all time favorite is Kloster Andechs. Vitus is of course also an amazing experience of a beer, though that's in a different category.

Definitely my favourite style of beer although i love things like rauchbier for being so different

We used to have a Herman Ze German next to my work and on Wednesday evening they did buy 2 for 1 happy hour. We used to get absolutely plastered on their strong beers. They had Paulaner on draft I could never remember what bottles they had but that Weihennstephaner looks very familiar! Will have to track it down. Actually I just googled them and another which I remember was a favourite was Augustiner Helles. Unfortunately all the Herman Ze German's were closed down because of Brexit. What a great idea that was!

I've seen the Germans sort the bottom yeast out before they pour. The hold the bottle in the palm of one hand, neck angled down and then turn the bottle, by its neck with the other hand, rotating it so the yeast dissolves back into the drink without fizzing it up, like shaking would. Seems to work and means you don't need to pour the whole bottle at once.

Bearing in mind that wheat beers are brewed in exception to the German purity laws. Partly because the purity laws existed in their original state to ensure that brewers only used barley so they’re not competing with bakers for supplies of wheat and rye. And modern purity laws don’t apply to top fermented beers anyway.

Managed to get 1 of the paulaner oktoberfest beers at Aldi in sept before they all went...👌 Looks like a trip to Sainsbury's tomorrow then...

YES YES YES Simon…..some of my favourite beers, I’ll be heading down to the off license to get some after watching this 🍻🍻🍻 sink a few at the stone the crow pub tonight 💪

😂 I bet you walked into the living room after drinking them, and the Missus said "you pissed again??" 😂 I agree with the erdinger, it's more of a lager.

Cheers Simon, I've finally discovered good beer at last at the age of 47 thanks to your videos, cheers mate! I'll never go back to UK larger

Schneider Weiss in Cologne recently. Superb drop. Also, Allgauer Weizen was also great but can't get hold of anywhere in UK

Saw the list called the best and skipped ahead to see your verdict, spot on with the Weinsteffana (I know it's entirely the wrong spelling). Glorous beer, getting Vitus to try for Christmas

I drink Franziskamer and it’s delicious. I like a cloudy drink, have done ever since I tried Stella Unfiltered.

Ikea have a beer glass called the MEDLA and it's only £2 and its the perfect shape for a wheat beer. My favourite one is the straight sided ones like Paulaner and Schneider use. Erdinger isn't the same since it went from 5.6% to 5.3% in bottle. I did however have it on draught in a Marsdon's pub and it was pretty nice.

2.5 ltrs of beer in the morning. Lovely

Weihenstephaner my fave aswell

Cracking vid mate. Weissbiers are so consistent could make a argument about any winning apart from Erdinger. So consistently good German beer battles are the hardest! have a nice weekend cheers bosh

My fav is Andechser Weißbier, brewed in a monastery, delicious!

Weihenstephaner is my personal favourite of the bunch.

I spent five weeks in Erding in early 2013. The brewery was just down the roads from the digs. Tried it, didn’t like it. Stuck to Helles(normal).

All great beers, agree with your review and scoring...my favourite syle of beer, although Edelweiss Hefetrub on the blade machine is an absolute belter of a beer and currently only second to Franziskaner Royal in my opinion. Currently in spain where Paulaner and Weinstephaner are readily available on draught and Franziskaner on bottle, spoilt for choice, cant wait to go back to the uk pubs to choose between Madri, Coors Light, Stongbow or Carling 😢😢😢, best stay at home.

I live in München, all thse brands are brewed here of near by. So here, theres no accessibility issue buying any of these. I just go to any larger supermarket and can get all of these brands. I drink Paulaner the most (just because I can buy it chilled from the store) Here is my take on this topic, I think Franziskaner, Paulaner, Wheichenstephaner (also Ayinger and Augustiner weisse) are almost the same from a taste and drinkanility point of view,. I happened to like Schneider Weisse the most, it stands out with it's character, richness and creamyness. Also there is another matter, one can base his choice on, what food you are pairing a weissbier with...

Plenty of good beers here, but for me it’s Franziskaner. Absolute nectar in my opinion, though don’t tend to drink too much of it during the winter months. More of a summer/better weather beer for me.

@RaduPN

8 ай бұрын

True that! I tend to drink more of Belgian Ales during cold winter time.

I've always said (since I've tried it) that Franziskaner is the best. It's not far off anyway. Great review

From my perspective, Paulaner is Poland's most popular German wheat beer and can be found in many convenience stores. Franziskaner and Erdinger are also available in supermarkets, but not consistently. For Weihenstephaner and Schneider Weisse, you would need to visit a specialized beer shop. Finally, it would be interesting to compare the test winner with the weissbiers available at Lidl and Aldi to see how they compare.

Uuuuu...my favorite beers! Just great pick for review. Personally I do really enjoy Franzi and Weihen. Franzi more sweet, candy taste. Weihen a bit more sour and crisp.

I always recommend tasting a new beer at least twice and purchase them from different locations or the same location at different times. As you have pointed out getting a bad bottle can happen. Beer needs love from the time it’s brewed to the time it’s in your glass. There is no telling what happens to it once it leaves the brewery. Cheers!!

Honestly my favourite type of beer just above British amber / ruby ale Shame prices seem to be creeping up in recent months but such a worth it beer style

I’m seeing more and more of all these beers in Singapore, as the local have learned to really appreciate Weissbier…

I love all these beers sad you didn't have MAISEL´S WEISSE tho , great video 👌

Weihenstaphaner is a well deserved No 1. I'd rank Paulaner ahead of Franzishaner though.

I'm assuming you mean mermaid gin with your crate of Weissbier on the desert island! Great stuff thanks again for your channel

Majestic wines was the place you were thinking of for the Paulaner!!

There is quite a few new beers on perfect draft. A new Camden larger, mahou, a new tiny rebel plus others.

Cracking Take on these Pal. your right Erdinger does not follow these drinks. 100% the weakest link Tap 7 4th I not sure there... I Think Personally I would have dropped Paulaner into 4th. It's also about personal taste and something that goes over so many peoples heads... Simon The Boxer now... I do agree About how easy it is to get Frankie as well... It's a fantastic introduction to weissbier as well again IMO Remember thinner can sometimes we also more drinkable in hotter weather as well... Tap 7 I do love but its more heavy for night time etc...

@realaleguide

8 ай бұрын

I am glad you watched this Paul as you share the same love for Frankie as me, its unbelievably good, holds its own against the others and is widely available. CHEERS Mate

@ratemybeer1

8 ай бұрын

@@realaleguide 100% mate have a good weekend Stoned Crow tonight?

Great Weissbier review! Also my favourite style of Bier. Pretty much spot on review, think I would have ranked them the same. I'm lucky enough to have a local that used to have Erdinger on draught, which was decent, but after Covid they switched to Weihenstephaner! which is awesome! (they also have loads of bottled Weissbiers in the fridge, Schneide, Paulaner and some Dunkels. I've spent some time working in Germany and been on many ski holidays in Austria, always drink the weissbiers, Maisles Weiss is a particular favourite, Steiglweiss, Edelwiess, Hacker Pschorr Hefe Weisse (With the Grolsch style top) is also a brilliant one, they used to have it in Booths, but not seen it in a while. Schneide do many different weissbiers which i noticed in Austria, they have different variations of it 'Tap 1, Tap 2, Tap 3 etc.......' they get darker in colour as the Tap number goes up I think? The 'Original' Schneide we get in the UK is 'Tap 7' i believe? so it's verging on a dunkel for me. Rheinbacher from Aldi used to be good when i had the Fransiskaner rip-off label, I'd have put it toe to toe with Fransiskaner any day! But when they changed the label to the Erdinger rip-off style label they also changed the style of the beer!, in my opinion they have tried to make it more like Erdinger, but they have failed, it's too fizzy / gassy now and tastes awful, I used to buy loads of Rheinbacher, but I don't buy any at all now. Patronus from Lidl is now my go to 'Cheap' Weissbier, it's decent for the price (currently £1.49 / 500ml). Fransiskaner is as you say available 'everywhere', I've worked in the states and I found it there! I've recently visited Korea and Japan and I found it there! my mate spends a lot of time in China with work and he found it there! Great channel and reviews, keep up the good work. Cheers

Couldn’t agree more on this, I would love to see a comparison video between erdinger and erdinger urweisse because for me personaly erdinger urweisse tops the lot of them

I got a bottle of franziskaner weissbier in lidi last week think it was £1.89 it was in beside a grate of steam brew cans that I buy which I like it's a session hazy ipa from Germany you are lucky as you dont see a lot of the German beers up here in scotland what you ard reviewing

@kennytait9865

8 ай бұрын

Thanks for another great review Simon

Where would aldis rheinbacher weissbier fit into this battle , love it

Schneider Weisse has also a regular Weissbier, that is not that dark. You had the "Original", which stands out, because it is a bit different - but nontheless, one the best wheatbeers i know.

Gotta be the Dinger for me!!!

Fast becoming my favourite style of beer 🍺

How about - beer style battle? Bitter vs IPA vs Stout vs Lager etc etc . Select the best in class for each and go to war in a single vid showdown

Weissbier contains more than the main 4 ingredients. It also contains wheat. 5 in total.

THIS 👆🏼is what makes this channel GREAT! 🍺 cheers Si let’s get the beers opened tonight my friend!

Completely agree with u Simon. W Stephaner is definitely best (one of the best ever in fact). Erdinger one of my least fav weissbiers about, just not much flavour compared to others.

These are some beers available in supermarkets in the UK that are genuine German beers.... although mass market they haven't had the recipes messed with by the large UK or USA based 'brewers' with the addition of glucose syrup

I remembed Franzi being in Lidl way befor Home Bargains existed, talking over 20 years ago ! 😳

The beer reviews will always top the food ones but some of the foods aren't too bad

I've never seen the Paulaner one anywhere I'd love to try it

@beefsuprem0241

8 ай бұрын

My Morrisons sells it near all the Brewdog muck 😂

Franziskaner Weissbier in the Netherlands in 50cl cans €1,50 (£1.30 GBP).

Basically you won’t go wrong with any of those except the erdinger

The Real Fab Four. Eddie, Paulie, Stevie and Frankie!

@Stefanbavaria

Ай бұрын

😊😊😊😊, try Schneider weisse and gutmann.Servus from Bavaria

The InBev brand is Franziskaner who own Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau. But AFAIK, they're hands off so they've not ruined the brand or the drink. Size of the owners doesn't necessarily matter anyway TBH. But I go agree that Erdinger is the worst of the bunch, for me. It's lacking the banana yeast flavours and mouthfeel. Franziskaner is nicer and, as you say, so easy to get hold of, that it's a good time to be a weissbier fan in the UK.

Weinstephaner was brewing beer before William the conk had landed here !!

Paulaner and Weihenstaphaner are my top 2. but ove the other 2 also. Erdinger can go straight in the bin, not a patch on the other 4.

Thanks Simon...THE REVIEW IVE BEEN WAITING FOR😁 Weissbeer is undoubtedly my favourite beer style My particular favourite out of your choice for review is Schneider weiss as its got all the usual clove and banana tones but it also has a lovely toffeeish & caramel taste which adds a lovely additional flavour to the norm In my opinion Erdinger is not even in the reckoning... very very bland ! However Franciskaner , paulaner and weihenstephaner are all top runners and deserve to be in your list An idea for Your next review would be for "Dunkel heffeweisen" beers which are a darker version of heffeweisen beer... and my particular favourite is GUTMANN DUNKEL HEFFEWEISEN available from beers of europe....beautiful stuff😋

@jamesgibb4945

8 ай бұрын

Great shout 👏

Not a fan of wheat beers... or day time drinking perse .. but great that Paulaner Helles is in large Tesco's at a reasonable price ..for uk standards

Brilliant review, do you drink all the beers once open? 😂

One pro thought, if you make beer battle. Taste buds eg receptors will react differently depends what you have tested previously. Its all relative. Eg: sour/bitter > less sweet > more sweet. And last two can taste same "sweet". Less sweet > sour/bitter > more sweet. And more sweet tastes probably very very sweet. So when you taste: Weihen > Franzi. Franzi tastes sweeter and Weihen more sour, pepper, spicy. But if you taste something quite bitter, sour and after that Weihen, Weihen brings out more sweet notes as well. Tricky ;)

Weißbiere / Weizen are soo good beers - I really learned that perhaps at the age of 30 :) Greets from Austria

Marvelous , there all winners 👍

Sehr schwierig!..... however, one thing is almost guaranteed, the first four beers will all taste good. Nice review.

You need to try fowl and fury in Cardiff, the fury sando burger is the hottest thing I've ever had, some of the best chicken in the UK tho.

Schnider Weiss Tap 7 I think is overated it has conflicting flavours in my opinion . Give me franziskaner royal ( that’s the one on the PD )any day

what would you say had the strongest flavor of banana?

There's also a dark version of Franziskaner. It has (of course) a darker flavour, a bit more like Guinness so to say.

I prefer the Paulaner, it's interesting that there's differing options!

Btw I have a huge Tesco Extra near me and they only ever have the Paulaner Munchen Hells, never the Weissbier ! 😭

@gazboden4337

8 ай бұрын

Morrisons and Waitrose sell it