Maisel Alcohol-Free Beers

Brauerei Gebr. Maisel is the family-owned brewery in Bayreuth, Upper Franconia, behind Maisel’s Weisse. The brothers Hans and Eberhard Maisel founded it in 1887, and Jeff Maisel, of the fourth generation, leads it today. Its alcohol-free wheat beer, Maisel’s Weisse Alkoholfrei, dates from 2000.

Who are Maisel?

The brothers Hans and Eberhard Maisel founded Brauerei Gebr. Maisel in 1887, the brewery says. They bought land on Kulmbacher Straße for 32,000 marks, Bayreuth’s city council approved the new brewery on 12 January, and building was finished that autumn; the family’s brewing history goes back about a century before that. German Wikipedia names the founders as Friedrich Maisel’s sons, Eberhardt (born 1841) and Hans (born 1859).

“Jeff Maisel heads the brewery as part of the fourth generation of brewers,” it says. He joined in 1999, by the brewery’s timeline, or the mid-1990s, according to the magazine Pellicle. Marc Goebel became director of brewing operations in 2017, the brewery says, and Pellicle reported in 2026 that Markus Briemle has been head brewer since 2019.

From Champagner-Weizen to Maisel’s Weisse

Until 1955 the brewery made only bottom-fermented beers. That year Oscar Maisel, who had studied at Weihenstephan, pushed for a crystal-clear, yeast-free wheat beer, first called ‘Champagner-Weizen’ (champagne wheat beer) and later ‘Maisel’s Weizen kristallklar’ (crystal-clear wheat beer). In 1975 the unfiltered Hefeweizen gained popularity, and it is now the main product, Maisel’s Weisse Original, the brewery says. In 1988 the clear beer was renamed Kristall and the Hefe-Weissbier became Maisel’s Weisse. Weisse Leicht followed in 1991, Dunkel in 1995 and Alkoholfrei in 2000.

In 2012 Jeff Maisel set up a craft label, Maisel & Friends. The brewery has also made two Weizenbocks, Bajuwarus (7.5%, a gift to fans in 2016) and Solarus (2019), and German Wikipedia lists a Pilsner and an Edelhopfen Extra. It brews with water from the nearby Fichtel Mountains and its own “unique pure culture yeast”, it says, and in 2019 it joined the ‘Bayerische Edelreifung’ (Bavarian fine maturation) quality initiative with Schneider Weisse and Erdinger.

Its Original was named World’s Best Wheat Beer (Bavarian Hefeweisse) at the 2018 World Beer Awards, the brewery says, and won Bronze there and Silver at the European Beer Star in 2024. For the alcohol-free beer, Pellicle reported six European Beer Star gold medals in seven years, with a silver in 2020 in between, plus two World Beer Awards. We couldn’t confirm these on the competitions’ own sites.

Visiting the brewery in Bayreuth

In 1981 the brewery’s historic building became Maisel’s Brauerei- und Büttnereimuseum (brewery and cooperage museum), which the Guinness Book of World Records listed as the “world’s most comprehensive beer museum”, the brewery says; German Wikipedia puts its visitors at about 15,000 a year. In March 2016 Maisel’s Bier-Erlebnis-Welt (beer experience world) opened, a 4,500 square metre attraction in the brewery’s oldest building, from 1887, with the Liebesbier restaurant, and the 67-room Liebesbier Urban Art Hotel followed in 2022. The brewery site was named Visitor Attraction of the Year at the 2024 World Beer Awards, it says. It has held a Weissbier festival every year since 1988.

Who owns Maisel?

The Maisel family. The brewer calls itself a “family-owned brewery from Upper Franconia”. German Wikipedia says Veltins took a 35% stake in 2001 and that the brewery has been entirely family-owned again since 30 December 2005; Pellicle dates the buy-back of the minority stake to 2007. Either way, no larger group owns it now, so we list it as independent. German Wikipedia puts its output at over 800,000 hectolitres a year.

Maisel’s Weisse Alkoholfrei

Maisel’s Weisse Alkoholfrei was first brewed in 2000, and Pellicle reported in 2026 that it makes up roughly a third of the brewery’s business, with sales in Sweden’s Systembolaget and Polish craft beer bars. Before it, the brewery made an alcohol-free pilsner, Kritzenthaler, which Jeff Maisel found unsatisfactory, Pellicle says; he and his cousin Andreas developed the new beer.

It is a blend, the brewery says: a dealcoholised batch of the Original mixed with a batch whose fermentation was stopped early. Pellicle adds that the fully fermented batch, brewed to the regular Weisse recipe, is dealcoholised by vacuum distillation, with its aromas captured and returned, while the early-stopped batch keeps sweetness and body; the ratio is secret. It is brewed under the German Purity Law (the Reinheitsgebot).

The brewery gives its strength as below 0.5%; UK shops list it at 0.5%. It is made with Fichtel Mountain water, wheat and barley malt, yeast and hops (Perle and Herkules, grown in Bavaria, Pellicle says). The brewery gives 26 kcal per 100ml, about 130 in a 500ml bottle; Alcohol Change UK gives 24 per 100ml. It contains wheat and barley, so it isn’t gluten-free. The Alcohol Free Co and Dry Drinker tag it vegan, free-beer.co.uk says it isn’t, and the brewery doesn’t say.

The Alcohol Free Co and Dry Drinker describe it as hazy golden “with banana, clove and spice yeast character”. Alcohol Change UK’s reviewer gave it 5 out of 5, calling it “an excellent alcohol-free Weissbier”, and Pellicle’s taster Daniel Halfar found “typical banana, light clove, and soft yeasty notes”, though leaner than the classic version. German Wikipedia also lists a Maisel & Friends Alkoholfrei, which isn’t in our directory.

How Maisel’s Weisse Alkoholfrei compares

Alcohol-free wheat beers from German breweries in our directory. Calories are the figures our calorie calculator holds; checked 1 November 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

The Maisel beer in our directory

Checked 1 November 2026. Calories are the brewer’s. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy Maisel

On 1 November 2026 it was in stock at The Alcohol Free Co, at £2.95 a bottle or £16.88 for six, Dry Drinker, at £17.22 for six, and Wise Bartender, at £3.10 a bottle; those are affiliate links. For more, see our guides to the best alcohol-free wheat beer and the best German alcohol-free beer.

Facts checked against Maisel’s own website, Pellicle, Wikipedia (German), Alcohol Change UK, free-beer.co.uk, The Alcohol Free Co, Dry Drinker and Wise Bartender, 1 November 2026.