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World’s oldest brewery and Sierra Nevada collaborate on wheat beer
Bavarian state-owned brewery Weihenstephan, founded in 1040, has partnered with with US brewer Sierra Nevada to bring the old world and new world of beer together.
This marks both the first time that Sierra Nevada, founded in 1980, has partnered with such a long-established brewery, and the first time that Weihenstephan has collaborated with another brewer at its own brewery. The new beer, called Braupakt, will be available from April 2018.
Braupakt translates from German as ‘brewery pact’ and according to the brewers, merges “‘old world’ purity standards and brewing methodologies with ‘new world’ innovation and hop flavours”.
Brewers from the two breweries spent most of 2017 developing the recipe for the collaboration, ultimately deciding on a fruit-forward, hoppy wheat beer, brewed with Hallertauer Tradition, Amarillo and Chinook hops.
The beer will be brewed to a strength of around 6% ABV and uses wheat malt, light and dark barley malt as well as caramel malt.
It is described as amber in colour and naturally cloudy with a creamy head and aromas of peach, apricot and citrus with a banana yeast note and grapefruit coming through on the palate. Both brewers recommend serving it with exotic or spicy dishes.
Tobias Zolo, brewmaster at Weihenstephan, said: “This is the first time Sierra Nevada chose to partner with a long-established brewery. Both breweries had something to glean and gain from the other. We came in with high standards for the Hefeweissbier style. Sierra Nevada, who is world-renowned for the Pale Ale style, came in with the discerning palettes for fruity and aromatic-bodied beers. With Braupakt, we were able to exceed the expectations of both breweries”.
Scott Jennings, brewmaster at Sierra Nevada added: “We are extremely excited to share our Braupakt collaboration with the beer community. When we look to create these partnerships, rarely do you get to work with breweries of [Weihenstephan’s] stature and we were blown away by the process. Not only are we blown away by the finished beer, we learned a lot on this journey as well from one of the original visionaries in our industry”.