Kaltenberg König Ludwig Weissbier

Originally published in What’s Brewing April 2005.

Origin: Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, Germany
ABV: 5.5 per cent
Buy from specialist suppliers
More information www.kaltenberg.de

Kaltenberg König Ludwig Weissbier

The connection between royalty and beer has perhaps never been so deep as in Bavaria, where secular, commercial brewing is a surprisingly recent invention. For most of recorded history, brewing in the historic south German territory was carved up between the church and the crown.

The Wittelsbacher dynasty, who ruled Bavaria over an astonishingly long period from 1180 to 1918, jealously guarded their grip on the local industry and especially their monopoly on wheat beer brewing, with taxes on beer making up a hefty slice of their wealth. It was a Wittelsbacher, Wilhelm IV, who passed the celebrated Reinheitsgebot (purity law), while another, Ludwig I, established the Oktoberfest, and in total the family has founded around 70 breweries.

Today Bavaria is a part, albeit a fiercely independently-minded one, of the Federal Republic of Germany, but the family is still around and still maintains its beery connections. Prince Luitpold, great-grandson of the last king, Ludwig III, revived the brewery in the cellar of his family pile, Kaltenberg Castle at Fürstenfeldbruck, east of Munich, back in 1976.

The prince built his brewing reputation on a traditional dark lager, König Ludwig Dunkel, but there are many other beers in the range and more recently he’s turned his attention to the style most associated with his ancestors: wheat beer.

König Ludwig Weissbier is a traditional cloudy, unpasteurised Bavarian wheat beer which also sometimes appears under the name Prinzregent Luitpold – dark, “kristall” (filtered) and low alcohol variations are also available under this latter name.

The classic light unfiltered version pours a typical yellow-golden colour, with a thick and smooth white head. There’s a beautifully fresh and spicy aroma, very wheaty with hints of new-mown hay, lime marmalade, roses, apple and cinnamon.

The palate is also smooth and clean but with a rich and robust graininess supporting flavours of custard cream with more apples and roses. It’s soft and milky, with emerging apple and slightly pippy hops, easily drinkable but very satisfying.

A more drying swallow leads to a tangy finish that still has a good creaminess, with slight strawberry hints. More wheaty cereal tastes emerge and the beer leaves you with well-rounded hops.

The beer’s fresh fruitiness gives it a distinctive edge which, in the hyper-traditional world of Bavarian brewing, does not always appeal to those weaned on more established wheat beer brands. But, speaking as a confirmed republican, I think it’s a delightful example, exquisitely balanced and well deserving of its place alongside the brewery’s benchmark dark lager.

Try also Schneider Weisse Original, Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier, Unertl Weissbier, Baltika 8 Pshenichnoe Svetloe (Russia)

 Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/konig-ludwig-weissbier/8946/