Wheat Beer

Brewed with 30 to 70 percent wheat malt, this fluffy ale has a unique tangy flavour and pale hue. It's bubblier than other beer styles, wonderfully aromatic and may be naturally cloudy. No matter what you call it — witbier, weisse beer, weissbier, weizen — you'll find our favourite wheat beers in stores now.

Ready to Explore?
Wheat beer has a very long history, dating back to Germany in the Middle Ages — and some argue, to the first century AD. It’s a style that’s found throughout Europe, and called “white beer” — or weissbier in its native country of Germany, wit beer in Belgium and bière blanche in France. German versions are known for their banana and clove flavours, produced by the yeast, while Belgians stand out for the coriander and orange peel that's added to the ale. Most wheats are naturally fermented in the bottle, so these "living ales" explode with tons of tiny bubbles. Explore all the flavours and decide which you love best.

You may taste
Brisk and light with a fluffy body that sticks to the tongue, wheat beer flavours can include notes of coriander, orange peel, banana, bubblegum, clove, citrus, Wheatabix and soft grains.

Sip them with
These extremely versatile brews match well with brunch fare such as salad with citrus dressing, crêpes, omelettes, croque monsieur, Eggs Benedict and quiche. They also pair nicely with Chinese takeout, fried fish, shellfish, fresh chèvre, Mexican or Thai fare.

Serving Tips
We love serving effervescent wheat ales in champagne glasses with brunch. Give them a few minutes out of the fridge before pouring to bring out the spicy, fruity notes. To tame the foamy head rinse the glass with cold water before you pour. German wheat beers are a bit tricky: the yeast at the bottom of the bottle must be stirred up and poured into the glass. To do it, pour into a tall weissbier glass (or divide between two smaller glasses) and when the bottle is about three quarters empty, roll it in your hands to stir up the yeast, and distribute the hazy liquid evenly among the glasses.

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Beer FAQs

What is craft beer?

Craft beer is made by small-scale breweries, often independently owned, that practise traditional artisanal brewing techniques to create authentic and uniquely flavourful beers. These craft brewers may focus on either classic or lesser-known styles of traditional beer, or create innovative new modern brews.

How many calories are in a beer?

A standard 340-millilitre or 12-ounce beer that has five per cent alcohol by volume has about 150 calories. Styles of beer that contain more alcohol, such as IPAs, have more calories — up to 170. Light beers, which have less alcohol, have around 100 calories. While darker beers sometimes have a higher alcohol content and therefore more calories, that’s not always the case: consider Guinness Draught, a dark stout, which has just over four per cent alcohol by volume and 125 calories per 12 ounces.

How many beers are in a keg?

Most standard North American kegs hold 58.7 litres: in terms of standard 340-millilitre or 12-ounce bottles or cans, that’s 165 servings; if you’re counting by 16-ounce pints, its 124 servings. European beers often come in 50-litre kegs, yielding 140 340-millilitre glasses or 105 pints. Smaller 30-litre kegs (sometimes called “pony kegs”) give 82 standard beers or 62 pints. Mini-kegs (Heineken, for example) hold five litres: that’s about 10 pints or 14 glasses.

How is beer made?

All beer is made with four key ingredients: barley (or other grains), water, hops and yeast. First, barley is malted (meaning the grains are sprouted and then kiln-dried) to get ready for brewing. The malt is then mashed, or cooked with warm water, to create a sugary liquid called wort. The wort is boiled with flavouring hops, and then in the final step, it’s fermented with yeast, which creates the alcohol and finished beer.

There are many different styles and regional traditions of brewing, but to simplify, they basically fall into two categories: for ale, the beer is stored at room temperature while the yeast feeds on the sugar in the wort and produces CO2 and alcohol as by-products; for lager, fermentation is the same, but it happens at cooler temperatures so the process takes a little longer

How long does beer last?

Check for an expiry or best-before date on bottles and cans: “best” is best when consumed fresh. Bottles and cans stored at room temperature are safe to drink for at least four months after purchase and up to eight months when it’s stored in the refrigerator or a cool place. Draft or craft beer stored in a glass bottle keeps for two or three days in the refrigerator when tightly capped. And remember, keep beer away from light: it can develop a “skunky” flavour from a chemical reaction to UV light, which is why it’s usually packaged in cans or dark glass bottles.

What is beer made of?

Most beer is made from just barley, water, hops and yeast. That’s all! Each ingredient contributes to the beer’s flavour, as do the specifics of the production process. Some brewers may use other grains, such as corn, rye, rice, wheat or even oats, to produce different types of beer. Some styles even incorporate additional flavouring ingredients, including fruits and herbs.