The filtered, crystal-clear member of the Bavarian wheat beer family — a hefeweizen stripped of its yeast haze. Made with at least 50 percent malted wheat and fermented with the same weizen yeast that gives banana and clove, then filtered bright so the beer pours sparkling rather than cloudy. Typically 4.9–5.6% ABV, with a cleaner, drier finish than its unfiltered counterpart.
In the glass
Origin
The Bavarian wheat beer tradition traces back to the noble Degenberg family of Schwarzach, who in 1520 secured from the ruling Wittelsbach dynasty the exclusive privilege to brew wheat beer. Wheat brewing proved unexpectedly profitable, and in 1602, after the Degenberg line died out, the Wittelsbachs reclaimed the right and turned it into a royal monopoly that lasted some two centuries. After demand collapsed in the face of improving lagers, the dukes sold the rights in 1872 to the Munich brewmaster Georg Schneider I, whose family kept the style alive through its near-extinction in the mid-20th century and its sudden revival from the mid-1960s onward.
Kristal weizen is the filtered branch of that family. German law allows the same beer to be labeled hefeweizen, weizenbier, or weissbier, but the filtered version carries the distinct name kristallweizen, “crystal wheat.” Filtration removes the yeast and the wheat proteins that cause the trademark cloudiness, leaving a bright beer that retains the yeast-derived flavors developed during fermentation. The clear style is a relative latecomer within the broader weissbier revival; Schneider & Sohn, long a haze-and-yeast specialist, did not even own conditioning tanks until it added a filtered crystal wheat to its range in the 2000s.
Notes
The only meaningful difference from hefeweizen is the filtration: same grist of at least 50 percent malted wheat, same weizen yeast, same banana-and-clove character — but poured clear instead of cloudy. Without yeast in suspension, the body is lighter and the finish drier and crisper, which makes it a popular warm-weather choice. There is no need for the rousing swirl used to pour an unfiltered weissbier, since no sediment sits in the bottle. As with all Bavarian wheat beers, the lemon wedge sometimes served abroad is not a German tradition; the citrus oil flattens the foam and masks the yeast aromatics that are the whole point of the style.
Defining examples
Weihenstephaner Kristallweissbier·Erdinger Kristall·Schneider Weisse Tap 2 Mein Kristall·Schöfferhofer Kristallweizen·Kapuziner Kristall-Weizen