River Song Crystal Wheat

New Beer going on tap today. It’s River Song Crystal Wheat.
German brewers have a long history of brewing using malted wheat as a large part of their grist. There are limits to the amount of wheat that can be used, due to the wheat having no husk, which brewers rely on to clarify the wort in the mash tun. So wheat beers were made using anywhere from 40% to 60% malted wheat, with the rest being malted barley. The German brewers called these beer weizens and they came in two versions…. hefe weizen which is unfiltered and kristal weizen which is filtered. The hefe version still contains the yeast. Sometimes this yeast settles to the bottom of the keg or the bottle and so even an unfiltered hefe weizen can be relatively clear, but the tradition is to resuspend the yeast so every beer has some hefe in it. The German versions also use a special strain of yeast which produces a lot of fruity esters and spicy clove like characters. American craft brewers began making wheat beers using American ale yeasts, producing slightly citrus, dry, crisp beers. Most were left unfiltered in the hefe tradition of Germany. There are a lot of variations of wheat beers, they can be served flavored with fruits like raspberry, blueberry, peach and apricot. Then there are Belgian style Wit or White beers which are brewed using some unmalted wheat, orange peel and coriander and they are always cloudy. River Song is brewed using 40% malted wheat, 60% German Pilsner malt, and English yeast strain, and Liberty hops. We filter it so are calling it a Crystal Wheat as opposed to a kristalweiss which it would be if it were truly German. Sierra Nevada brewing brewed a crystal wheat beer and only sold it at their brewery in Chico for many years. It was always one of Mr and Mrs Drop In’s favorite beers. They released this beer commercially in bottles last year under the label Old Chico.
The name River Song is one fans of the British TV show Dr Who will recognize