What is wheat beer?

Below: what the names mean, where the banana and clove come from, how Bavaria’s wheat beer nearly died out, witbier and the other wheat styles, how brewers take the alcohol out, and the alcohol-free wheat beers to try. For the ranking with prices, see the best alcohol-free wheat beers; for Erdinger’s, Erdinger Alcohol Free.

What is wheat beer?

Most beer is made from malted barley. A wheat beer swaps a big share of it for wheat. How much depends on the style: a German weissbier must use at least 50% malted wheat, though most use 60–70%;^[2] a Belgian witbier uses 30–60% unmalted wheat;^[3] and an American wheat beer often 30–50% wheat malt, “lower than is typical in Weissbier”.^[4]

The other ingredient that matters is the yeast. Weissbier and witbier are top-fermented, like ales: “Top-fermenting yeast gives wheat beer its typical fruity aroma,” as Erdinger puts it.^[5][6] That’s the key difference in fermentation from a lager such as a helles, which uses bottom-fermenting lager yeast. More on the two families in lager vs ale.

Weissbier, hefeweizen, weizen: what the names mean

They’re the same beer. “Weissbier means ‘white beer’ in German,” and outside Bavaria “most weissbier is better known as hefeweizen, literally ‘yeast wheat’ in German”. It’s usually packaged unfiltered, with plenty of yeast left in.^[2] The BJCP agrees: weissbier is “also known as hefeweizen or weizenbier, particularly outside Bavaria”.^[1] So “hefeweizen vs weissbier” is a question about names, not beers.

A few variations have names of their own. Kristallweizen is filtered: “Kristall versions are filtered for brilliant clarity.”^[1] Dunkelweizen, or dunkles weissbier, is “a moderately dark German wheat beer” with the same banana and clove, “supported by a toasted bread or caramel malt flavor”.^[7] Weizenbock is the strong one, at 6.5–9.0%: weissbier with “the rich maltiness, strength, and body of a Bock”; Schneider’s Aventinus, first brewed in 1907, is one of the dark examples the BJCP names.^[8][9] And “In Germany, lower-alcohol light (leicht) and non-alcoholic versions are popular.”^[1]

Sources: BJCP.^[1][7][8] Kristallweizen shares weissbier’s guideline ranges.

Why does wheat beer taste of banana and clove?

The yeast. The BJCP describes weissbier’s aroma as “moderate to strong esters and phenols, typically banana and clove”.^[1] Both come from the yeast. The Oxford Companion to Beer names the two compounds: the banana is isoamyl acetate, and the clove is 4-vinyl guaiacol, which weissbier yeasts make from ferulic acid, “a phenol with a distinctly clovelike aroma”.^[2] Witbier gets its spice differently, from what goes into the kettle: coriander seed and dried Curaçao orange peel.^[3]

Where weissbier came from

For about two centuries, brewing wheat beer in Bavaria was a royal privilege. The Oxford Companion to Beer tells the story: in 1520 the Degenberg family won the exclusive right to brew it; when the last of the line died without an heir in 1602, Duke Maximilian I reclaimed the right and “promptly turned wheat beer brewing into a monopoly for himself and his heirs.” It lasted until 1798, “when several monasteries and burgher breweries were given permission to brew weissbier too”, by which time weissbier had fallen out of fashion.^[2]

Georg Schneider I leased the Weisses Bräuhaus from the Wittelsbach family, Bavaria’s rulers, in 1855,^[9] and by 1872 the Bavarian rulers had given up on weissbier for good.^[2] “Modern Weissbier dates from 1872 when Schneider began production of its amber version,” the BJCP says.^[1] Even so, by the 1950s and early 1960s weissbier had “fallen to below 3% of the overall Bavarian beer production”. Then taste turned, “from about 1965 onward”, and in 2012 the Oxford Companion called weissbier the most popular style in Bavaria, “holding greater than one-third of the market share.”^[2]

Witbier: Belgium’s white beer

Witbier, or bière blanche in French, is the Belgian branch: “an unfiltered, top-fermented style of wheat beer”, and “‘white’ refers to the unfiltered, cloudy whiteness of the beer as it appears in a glass.”^[6] It uses unmalted wheat, 30–60% of the grain, and it’s spiced: “traditionally uses coriander seed and dried Curaçao orange peel.” The BJCP calls it “a delicate, lightly spiced, moderate-strength ale that is a refreshing summer drink”.^[3]

It nearly vanished. In 1957, the last white beer brewery in Hoegaarden, Brouwerij Tomsin, stopped production; in 1966 a milkman, Pierre Celis, pieced together a brewery to revive it.^[10][6] It became Hoegaarden, the BJCP says, and “after Hoegaarden was acquired by Interbrew, the style grew rapidly”.^[3] So, to answer a common search: Hoegaarden is a witbier, not a hefeweizen. The BJCP lists Hoegaarden White as a witbier.^[3]

Sources: BJCP.^[1][3][4] Examples are from the BJCP’s lists.

Berliner weisse, gose and the other wheat beers

Two sour wheat beers come from the north. Berliner weisse is “a very pale, refreshing, low-alcohol German wheat beer with a clean lactic sourness”, at 2.8–3.8%; Napoleon’s troops called it “the Champagne of the North” in 1809.^[11] Gose is “a tart, lightly-bittered historical central European wheat beer”, brewed with wheat malt and a restrained use of salt and coriander; it’s associated with Leipzig but began in Goslar, on the River Gose.^[12] Our top-scoring alcohol-free wheat beer is one: Brulo 5 Fruit Gose, a fruited gose.

The wheat beer glass

Weissbier has its own glass: “tall vaselike glassware, chunky at the base, cinching in to an elegant waist, and then flaring dramatically at the lip.” It needs the room: “High carbonation and high protein in the beer combine to produce voluminous foam.”^[2] The BJCP adds a buying tip that suits the alcohol-free versions too: “These beers are best enjoyed while young and fresh, as they often don’t age well.”^[1]

How alcohol-free wheat beer is made

The big German brewers each do it their own way, and four of the five below say how. Maisel brews a full Maisel’s Weisse and gently removes the alcohol, brews a second batch whose fermentation is stopped early, then blends the two.^[13] Weihenstephaner lets the fermentation finish, then takes the alcohol out with vacuum falling-film evaporation, a method developed together with the Technical University of Munich (our translation).^[14] Paulaner removes the alcohol from its Weissbier 0,0% after maturing, by a process that “works with temperature and pressure”.^[15] Erdinger keeps a little alcohol on purpose: taking all of it out is technically possible, it says, but “makes no sense”, because the beer would lose its fullness of flavour (our translation).^[16]

UK government guidance, which is voluntary, keeps the term alcohol-free for 0.05% ABV or below, though many beers up to 0.5% are sold in the UK as alcohol-free. More in our 0.0% vs 0.5% guide.^[18]

Lucky Saint makes one too: a 0.5% German Weissbier, “a traditional German wheat beer with notes of cloves, banana and citrus”, though on 4 November 2026 its site said orders were “temporarily paused”.^[19]

Five alcohol-free wheat beers to try

Four weissbiers and a gose, all in stock at The Alcohol Free Co, Dry Drinker or Wise Bartender on 4 November 2026. For all 10 we rank, with prices at each shop, see the best alcohol-free wheat beers.

ABVs follow each beer’s page on Unhopped and the UK listings; some brewers give “under 0.5%”.

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Fruit and spice, explained. Witbier’s coriander and orange peel, gose’s salt, and the fruit in sour wheat beers, style by style: Fruit and spices in beer.

Questions people ask

Sources

Opened and checked on 4 November 2026. Beer facts, prices and stock come from each beer’s page on Unhopped and the shops’ own listings on the same day.

1. Beer Judge Certification Program. 2021 Beer Style Guidelines: 10A Weissbier. styles.bjcp.org
2. Dornbusch H, Oliver G. Weissbier. In: The Oxford Companion to Beer, ed. Garrett Oliver (Oxford University Press, 2012), via Craft Beer & Brewing. beerandbrewing.com
3. Beer Judge Certification Program. 2021 Beer Style Guidelines: 24A Witbier. styles.bjcp.org
4. Beer Judge Certification Program. 2021 Beer Style Guidelines: 1D American Wheat Beer. styles.bjcp.org
5. Erdinger Weissbräu. ERDINGER Alkoholfrei (product page). Opened 4 November 2026. erdinger.de
6. Villa K. White beer. In: The Oxford Companion to Beer, ed. Garrett Oliver (Oxford University Press, 2012), via Craft Beer & Brewing. beerandbrewing.com
7. Beer Judge Certification Program. 2021 Beer Style Guidelines: 10B Dunkles Weissbier. styles.bjcp.org
8. Beer Judge Certification Program. 2021 Beer Style Guidelines: 10C Weizenbock. styles.bjcp.org
9. Seidl C. Schneider Weisse Brewery. In: The Oxford Companion to Beer, ed. Garrett Oliver (Oxford University Press, 2012), via Craft Beer & Brewing. beerandbrewing.com
10. Rabin D. Celis, Pierre. In: The Oxford Companion to Beer, ed. Garrett Oliver (Oxford University Press, 2012), via Craft Beer & Brewing. beerandbrewing.com
11. Beer Judge Certification Program. 2021 Beer Style Guidelines: 23A Berliner Weisse. styles.bjcp.org
12. Beer Judge Certification Program. 2021 Beer Style Guidelines: 23G Gose. styles.bjcp.org
13. Brauerei Gebr. Maisel. Maisel’s Weisse Alkoholfrei (product page). Opened 4 November 2026. maisel.com
14. Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan. Hefeweißbier Alkoholfrei (product page, in German). Opened 4 November 2026. weihenstephaner.de
15. Paulaner Brauerei. Weissbier 0,0% (product page). Opened 4 November 2026. paulaner.com
16. Erdinger Weissbräu. Unbedenklicher minimaler Alkoholgehalt (PDF, in German); quoted here only on flavour and brewing. Opened 4 November 2026. erdinger.de (PDF)
17. Schneider Weisse G. Schneider & Sohn. TAP3 Mein Alkoholfrei (product page). Opened 4 November 2026. schneider-weisse.de
18. Department of Health and Social Care. Low Alcohol Descriptors Guidance. 13 December 2018. Opened 4 November 2026. gov.uk (PDF)
19. Lucky Saint. German Weissbier 500ml Bottles (product page). Opened 4 November 2026. luckysaint.co