A classic German wheat beer, made in collaboration with one of Japan's true weizen gurus
[Character]A classic Weizen with a hazy white apperance, low bitterness, and strong yeast notes of banana and clove provide the character of this beer, with a sweet bread-like character from the high wheat concentration[Food Pairing]Smoked white fish-infused potato salad, "kakiage" fry with salted fresh ginger, lemon zest and parsley sausage[Naming]Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, it's off to drink we go! Brewed with Yatsugatake TOUCHDOWN Brewery, based at 1200m in the Akaishi Mountains, we thought that mountain theming would go well, and so went for a pair naming of Heigh-Ho and Ya-ho. Heigh-Ho was inspired by the whiteness of the wheat used in the weizen style, something that, combined with the forests and European-themed village in the white snow capped hills, reminded us of a certain fairy tale.[Brewer's Voice]This collaboration with Miyashita-san (“Tentsu-san”) of Yatsugatake has been a long time coming. As usual, we approached this from the perspective of mutual learning, with beers being made on each side. He has never worked with Belgian yeast before, and we have never quite been satisfied with how our weizen yeast characters have come through in our few attempts in making one. On our side, we decided to make two beers, both leaning into two of the aspects that Tentsu-san is most known for: classic German weizens, and modern hoppy twists on the weizen style, in what he dubs the “New England Weizen”.
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.
StyleClassic WeizenSeriesNakamaABV5.0%IBU10Gas Volume2.65OthersRice HullsCategoryBeerJAN4589718742632Shipping Start2025/05/30Regarding shipping datesPlease note that, when multiple items are ordered together, they will be shipped out after the shipping start date of the latest product in the order.Best Before2026/01/22
