Blending Erdinger Dunkel Weisen

[midlife crisis]

Gary (or anyone else so inclined):

What would you suggest blending with the Erdinger Dunkel Weisen to spruce it up a bit? I had one of those yesterday and found it to be bland in the extreme. Lacking in, among other things, the banana and clove one hopes for in the style.

[Magni]

midlife,

I feel the same way about the dukel weisen and while it is a great winter beer in the fact that it goes straight from the glass to my belly, it doesn't satisfy my cravings for the style.

[old faithful]

I agree about the Erdinger. Michael Jackson states in his Beer Compansion text that the brewery uses wheat with an unusually low protein content and this contributes to the "delicacy" of the beer (some would say blandness). Therefore, while I am sure Erdinger uses at least 50% wheat in its mash in the classic South German way for wheat beer, this production detail amongst perhaps others (probably the yeast used) contributes to the mild taste of the beer.

I have two suggestions. If Schneider's weizen is currently available, I'd combine that with Erdinger's, perhaps 2:1. Schneider's has a big classic spicy palate and would be little diminished by doing so; some might consider the lessening of the banana/clovey element an improvement or at least an interesting change.

A second suggestion is to add a dash of Schlenkerla Rauchbier to the Erdinger, maybe 3:1 the wheat to the smoke. That would produce an all-German flavourful beer in my opinion. Now that you mention it, Midlife, that might well be a useful stopgap until we can get Schlenkerla's fine but lightly smoked wheat beer! How about a three thirds: Erdinger weizen, Schneider's and the Rauchbier. That might come close...

Gary

[SteelbackGuy]

Throw in some vodka, and you will have a La Terrible clone.

[midlife crisis]

I tried this (the three threads idea: one-third each of Erdinger Dunkel, Schneider Weisse and Schenkerla Rauchbier). Not bad -- it certainly livened up the Eridinger, but the Rauchbier was a bit overwhelming (I'm not really a fan, which may have something to do with it). I found switching to 2 parts Schneider, 2 parts Erdinger and 1 part Rauchbier was just about right.

[esprit]

How about a bratwurst stir stick?

[Rumrunner]

I first had this at the Bier Markt which has this on tap, and I really enjoyed it, but when I had some in bottle form a week later, I too found it bland tasting.
Interesting idea to mix something with it, but only necessary if you bought too much. It's not undrinkable so I don't think I would waste something good to try to improve it.