Judge's Review: 93 Rating - Licher Weizen by Licher Privatbrauerei

I am judging this beer against the BJCP guidelines category 10a, Weissbier. A traditional weissbier should be a pale, refreshing German wheat beer with high carbonation, a dry finish, a fluffy mouthfeel and a distinctive banana and clove yeast character.

First thing I’m looking at in a traditional weizen is the aroma. I liked this beer’s dominant banana ester in the aroma and the low background note of the clove phenol. It is very well done and smells quite refreshing. There is a soft wheat and low spicy noble hop presence that is just as it should be. Because we roused the yeast there is a solid yeasty background to it all. It poured a solid gold color with significant haze, typical for the style. The head was fluffy and very pillowy, which is exactly what I would expect from this beer. The flavor matches the aroma well. With a nice mildly wheaty flavor, a moderate amount of bitterness and great balance between the esters and phenols. The mouthfeel is light and crisp, thanks in large part to the high carbonation. All in all, this is an excellent traditional hefeweizen, my only complaint was that there is a fresh characteristic in fantastic hefeweizens that this one was lacking. But still, it's very solid. If you can find this beer, I don't think you would be disappointed at all.