Hold on to your wallets because today we’re breaking out the expensive stuff: Grafenwalder Hefe Weissbier.
Grafenwalder Hefe Weissbier is a 5% wheat beer which will set you back a whopping 99p per 500ml can. At this price, consumption of Grafenwalder should be reserved only for momentous occasions such as getting to the door before the postman fucks off, or not shitting your pants after a heavy session of cheap wine.
Similar to its pilsner cousin, Grafenwalder is brewed for German supermarket Lidl and also complies with German purity laws. Strangely, although the can states the beer is 5%, the Greek and Hungarian descriptions claim it is 5.5%, not that the extra 0.5% is going to make any difference. The can also says “Weissbier Genuss” which translates to “Wheat beer genius” as the Nazis gave this drink to children in schools, believing it made them smarter.
Wheaty beer for wheaty people.
Grafenwalder pours a large head as expected from any wheat beer, although it dies off quickly. Being unfiltered the beer has a very cloudy appearance, perhaps darker than regular wheat beers although I can’t really remember what others look like. There isn’t much of a smell other than a weak wheat beer aroma with perhaps a slight hint of crayon. First impressions of the drink are quite good. It’s certainly not a high quality brew, but for a little known supermarket brewed beer it’s quite drinkable. I could definitely swallow several of these beverages without complaining. The aftertaste is the biggest letdown of the whole Grafenwalder experience. Despite being poured into a high quality plastic cup, there is still a very strong taste of what seems to be the metal can. The metallic taste isn’t enough to make the beer undrinkable, but it does have a similar sensation to that of sucking on a dirty coin. I briefly considered cutting open the can and licking the inside to see if it is the taste of the metal seeping into the drink, but then I realised that’s a stupid idea and I’m not doing it.
As a wheat beer Grafenwalder ranks fairly low, but as a cheap drink it really is an excellent choice if you’re prepared to spend £1 per can. Being a wheat beer means it is also much easier to drink when warm compared to other beers, although it does suffer from the Grafenwalder curse of refusing to be chilled. Grafenwalder on the rocks anybody?
Booze Review rating: 8/10 deliciouses
