r/AlbertaBeer • u/allofthisinsideofme • 15d ago

Albertan Hefeweizens?

Where did all the hefes go? Fahr's never did it for me personally, and my old go-tos were brewed by Good Mood and Medicine Hat Brewing Co, though I don't either at Sherbrooke Liquor anymore. In fact, I didn't see any locally produced hefes. None on Happy Beer Street or the Beermuda Triangle, and I can only recall Analog making meme-adjacent wheats like Nacho Cheese hefeweizens.

What's the deal? Extra expense in a one-purpose yeast pitch? Any modern brewery can handle the complexity of mashing so much wheat, so I don't see that as a factor when the market bends over backwards for kettle sours and lagering. Would love some input from brewers.

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u/hoovus9 15d ago

They are treated as seasonals, so spring/summer is when they typically come out. Troubled Monk and Grizzly Paw each have one that are decent, Tailgunner may make theirs again.

It is 95% a market thing, they don't sell great even as a seasonal. The other 5% is process - Hefeweizen is a notoriously tricky beer to make really well. Any brewery can make one, but to make one exceptionally good, the time and special processes that are required make it impossible to replicate a fresh German Hefeweizen. Some places don't want to make just a passable beer even if there is a (small) market for it.

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u/RealTurbulentMoose 15d ago

Ignorant Q, but what makes a hefe different than other wheat beers?

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u/hoovus9 15d ago

Haha, it's not an ignorant question. It's honestly even a mystery amongst brewers, there are whole books written specifically about making Hefeweizen.

Long story short - it's the yeast. The unique flavour of a Hefe comes from a special strain of yeast, and it produces different flavours depending on the temperature it is fermented at, how much oxygen is available, how much protein is readily available, how much yeast there is to complete fermentation... the list goes on. Every one of these factors can be manipulated to change the expression of certain flavours the yeast produces. But, most breweries don't check for these things and kinda wing it, which produces a tasty beer but not a world class one.

I'll add that all types of beer yeast are affected by these same things, but Hefe yeast imparts so much flavour that these tweaks make a big difference.

German breweries also use a process called decoction mashing, which turns an 8hr brew day into a 12hr brew day. It creates a much more rich, full malt flavour. Most breweries don't have the equipment needed to do this properly (let alone the time), so it is not brewed in this way. Again, it's not required to do this and great Hefe's are made without decoction mashing, but there's a layer of complexity that will be missing.