Written by Franziskaner, with its distinctive picture of a Franciscan Friar on the label is one of Germany’s best known wheat beers, and indeed was the first wheat beer I tasted, back the late nineteen eighties.
To be honest, here in the UK wheat beers are still pretty ‘niche’ although brands such as Hoegaarden have done much to popularise them.
Franziskaner claims to trace its roots back to 1363; that was when the brewer Seidel Vaterstetter is first mentioned as the owner of the ‘brewery next to the Franciscans’ in the Munich Residenzstrasse; the name ‘Franziskaner’ derives from the Franciscan monastery.
Then it gets complicated in a ‘Dynasty’ sort of way – but without the shoulder-pads:
The brewery in Residenzstrasse was bought in 1841 by Augustin Deiglmayr, a son-in-law of Gabriel Sedlmayr the Elder (the owner of the nearby Spaten brewery) as Franzikaner moved their operations to the Munich suburb of Lilienberg.
In due course Sedlmayr and Deiglmayr worked together and in 1861 Sedlmayr took control of the brewery. The brewery was floated in 1909 and in 1921 the Spaten and Franziskaner companies merged to form (with typical German thoroughness the ‘Gabriel und Joseph Sedlmayr Spaten-Franziskaner-Leistbräu Aktie Gesellschaft’.
Then in 1997 the brewery united with Löwenbräu AG to form the Spaten-Löwenbräu-Gruppe which was in turn sold to Interbrew in 2003.
See what I mean about Dynasty?
In 2004 Interbrew and the Companhia de Bebidas das Américas (AmBev) merged to form InBev and then, in 2006, the company’s Marsstrasse brewery was closed and converted into a museum.
These days Franziskaner is the global number 3 in terms of wheat beer sales.
This review was going to be a straight review of the popular Franziskaner brew, until my neighbour announced that he was going to Germany for a weekend and “would I like anything brought back?” – “well if you find a case of wheat-beer that would be great”.
To my amazement he left a crate of Franziskaner on my doorstep, and when I looked at the bottles, they weren’t just Franziskaner, brewed to 5% ABV, but the dunkel… darker and sweeter than the regular brew.
Bring it on!
Franziskaner Dunkel
This pours with a rich mocha coloured head, really rich… foaming, but very little lacing after it subsided. As expected, this is a lot more accessible that the more popular light weissbeers, the nose is really subtle, the orange peel and coriander notes are subdued, barely noticeable, but there are distinct hints of banana.
There is an underlying cloudiness… don’t even consider holding this up to the halogen, and the mouth feel is medium bodied, not to heavy, not too light.
As for the taste, well it’s subtler than pale ‘hellas’ weissbeers, it’s dark and sweet, almost like a banana fudge, with maybe some hints of bubblegum. As such this could act as a gateway beer, it’s really drinkable, but has those underlying flavours that tell you this is a wheatbeer, not a run of the mill bitter or mild. There’s just an edge, but a very pleasant one.
When I reviewed Blue Moon Wheat Beer last spring one of the comments suggested serving Blue Moon 50/50 with Guinness to get a ‘Black & Blue’ – well I took a bottle of Blue Moon down to my local and added it to a draught Guinness. When the head finally subsided (and I’d cleaned the froth off the bar top) the resulting beer was very similar to this; well a pimped and chromed version, but the banana fudge flavours were there.
I then dusted off a couple of bottles of the Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss
Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss
Again a full bodied head from a full pour maybe slighlty less head, but more lacing. A full Banana, Oramge Peel and Coriander nose. Again not as ‘in your face’ as Blue Moon or Hoegaarden, but still a classic German wheat beer.
And the same in the flavour, not too full bodied, but enough to satisfy.
All in all I think I have to score these both 3 stars.
In the past I would have rated Franziskaner higher, but more recent weissbeers – such as the excellent offering from Grolsch and the absolute classic from Weihenstephaner has (in my opion at least) pushed Franziskaner down a notch.
And, for the record, I can’t find my Franziskaner glass, so the glass used in the Dunkel review hails from the Cotswold Brewing Company, about whom more soon, while the Hefe-Weizen enjoys my prized Falkensteiner glass, almost a work of art.
Rating: 
Great reviews, Scott. I really like the Hefe Weiss. I just started to enjoy this style of beer recently for some reason. I don’t know why it didn’t click with me before. I have to agree, the Falkensteiner glass is awesome. Just curious, have you ever tried Troegs Dreamweaver? The first time I ordered it, it was described as “between a Hoegaarden and a Blue Moon.”
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Chicken Cutlets & Broccoli Rabe =-.
I really like their Weissbeer Dunkel. This bar around the corner from me had it on tap for awhile but don’t anymore
But there is always the German place about 20 minutes away with it on tap so the smile returns.
.-= Mike – MikeLovesBeer.com´s last blog ..The Bruery is Coming to South Florida =-.
@Rachel, thanks for the compliment, but Bob the Brit is responsible for this excellent review. (I need to figure out a way to make that more apparent) In addition to great taste in beer, Bob also has an awesome beer glass collection, two fine examples pictured above.
Regarding the Troegs Dreamweaver, no, I’ve never had it but I can imagine what it might taste like. This is a great style beer, one of my favorites for Summer!
@Mike – Hey, so long as you can get your German Beer fix somehow! Dunkel on tap must be nice.
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Beer Review – Long Trail Winter White =-.
Modesty forbids, but somewhere in the attic I have about forty beer glasses from my first foray into beerdom, back in the eighties. I really should dig them out and maybe offer them for sale.
and yes I envy @mike if he has a bar within travelling distance that serves dunkel on draught.
.-= Bob the Brit´s last blog ..Burns Night =-.
Hey Guys,
Love the review of both the Franziskaner prominent brews. I’m luck in that I’ve lived in Germany and currently a little further south in Switzerland where there is no shortage of the Hefe-Weiss.
The Hefe-Weiss is my bier of choice when looking for a stable, good and reliable brew. I’m quite the fan of Weiss bier and the Franziskanner has always made a good starting point. I completely agree with the review of it the Weiss, in so much that I used to rate it much higher as well, until I started expanding my knowledge and experience with more weiss biers. Today I still think the basic Franziskanner Weiss is a good bier, but the Weiss from Weihenstephaner, Karg, Schneider Weisse, Altenmünster and others really set a new level of standards.
However the Dunkel Weiss from Franziskanner is up there with the best weiss adaptations. And the boys here at the Brewclub for absolutely nailing the review of this bier. I’ve previously reviewed it, not to this depth but reading your review had me salivating for that bublegum-banana fudge flavour… seriously guys, well described!
Have always wanted to visit this brewery, so maybe someone is interested in a road trip this year
@Nate – sounds like a great roadtrip to me! Thanks for stopping in to comment!
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Ramstein Winter Wheat Beer =-.
I loved Franziskaner Dunkel, only problem is it’s hard to find around me.
Wonderful review. My favourite is Franziskaner Dunkel. The hints of banana what makes it taste it great. I just feel like having a sip right now. I hope we will be able to see all of bob’s beer glass collections soon.
Seriously Bob the beer glass collection sounds great. You shoud dig them out and do a post just about your bar ware collection. I’ll bet it is quite interesting. Great review by the way. I haven’t tried either of these, but it sounds like I should give the Dunkel a try real soon.
.-= Don´s last blog ..Is that Jack Daniels? =-.
I agree with you completely on this review. And I agree that this beer (though solid) pales a bit in comparison with Weihenstephan’s offering.
I’m a fan of this Hefe, it’s not the best out there, but it’s good and suprisingly affordable around here, for an import. I’d probably give it a 4/5. I haven’t had the Dunkle, will be looking for that one now.
.-= Wolfman-K´s last blog ..Happy Anniversary to Us =-.