For this first one, we wanted to get the fundamentals as right as possible. Tentsu-san’s weizens don’t hold back on the yeast character, and how he does this is a bit of a work of art. One challenge with this one is that they do a very complicated mash resting process, which our brew house is simply not set up for. We wanted to replicate this as closely as we could, however, and were able to accomplish mash rests at 3 different temperatures, making this the longest mash regiment that any of us have ever attempted. What we gained, however, was the cleanest full-bodied wort for the style. As is typical of the style, the beer is made of 50%+ wheat, and the rest is pilsner and Munich malt for the body and a touch of biscuit flavour. We used some East Kent Holdings and Tettnang hops for herbal and flowery notes to compliment the yeast. And the yeast here is really the main player! We first stressed the yeast during fermentation to gain plenty of clove, and then added some additional wort toward the end to restart it and to gain some fresh ester character, in a technique shared with us by Tentsu-san. The result is the most intensely “weizen-esque” weizen that we have been able to make thus far.