Schneider Alcohol-Free Beers

Schneider Weisse: 150 years of Bavarian wheat beer

G. Schneider & Sohn — known worldwide as Schneider Weisse — is one of Germany's most important wheat beer brewers, and the name most responsible for keeping the Bavarian weissbier tradition alive. Family-owned since its founding in 1872 and still run by direct descendants of the founder, the brewery brews nothing but wheat beer, today from its historic home in Kelheim on the banks of the Danube.

On Unhopped, Schneider is represented by its alcohol-free wheat beer — an authentic Bavarian Hefeweizen brewed to the same exacting standards as the rest of its celebrated range, but at 0.5% ABV.

A brewery that saved a style

By the mid-19th century, Bavarian wheat beer was in steep decline as lager took over, and the royal court was close to abandoning it altogether. In 1872, Munich entrepreneur Georg Schneider I negotiated the right to brew weissbier — becoming the first commoner ever granted that privilege, which until then had been reserved for Bavarian royalty — and founded G. Schneider & Sohn with his son Georg II. The flagship beer he brewed then, now known as Tap 7, is still made to the original 1872 recipe.

From Munich to Kelheim

The original Munich brewery was destroyed by bombing in 1944, and production moved to the Weisses Bräuhaus in Kelheim — Bavaria's oldest wheat beer brewery, built in 1607, which the family had acquired in the late 1920s. The brewery has operated there ever since, and the Schneider family, now into its sixth generation, still owns and runs it.

The alcohol-free wheat beer

Schneider's alcohol-free expression brings the brewery's wheat-beer expertise to the 0.5% category: the characteristic banana-and-clove esters, the cloudy gold pour and the full body of a proper Bavarian Hefeweizen, brewed in line with the German purity law (Reinheitsgebot) using only water, malt, hops and yeast.

Why Schneider Weisse matters

Few breweries carry this much heritage. Schneider Weisse didn't just brew wheat beer — it preserved the style for the rest of the world, registering what is considered the first wheat-beer trademark. For anyone exploring alcohol-free beer beyond lager, a genuine Bavarian weissbier from the brewery that saved the style is about as authentic as it gets.