Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site opus.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd
From: rcd@opus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: White beer?
Message-ID: <299@opus.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 30-Mar-84 16:21:19 EST
Article-I.D.: opus.299
Posted: Fri Mar 30 16:21:19 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 1-Apr-84 07:31:34 EST
References: <212@ihu1e.UUCP>
Organization: NBI, Boulder
Lines: 21

<>
A leftover from John Smith's "bock beer" questions:
> P.S.	By the way, has anyone else ever heard of "white beer"?

Yes.  There are two related German brewing customs - Weiss (white) and
Weizen (wheat) beer.  Both are brewed with a combination of wheat and
barley malt.  (Normally, beer is made exclusively from barley malt - except
for some American brewers who, in their desperate attempts to remove all
but the last trace of flavor, resort to adding rice.)  Weissbier and
Weizenbier are brewed in different areas of Germany, have different
proportions of wheat malt in them, and have somewhat different tastes - but
both have a characteristic taste.  They are normally rather light and
brewed to low alcohol content - the intent being a beverage which is
thirst-quenching but not filling or overly intoxicating.
The "white" reference is variously said to refer to the pale color or to
the very white (and generally substantial) head.
There are a few wheat beers brewed in the US, I have been told, but they
are regional specialties.
-- 
Relax - don't worry - have a homebrew.
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd