Do you believe in beer ESP? I'm starting to. Years ago, before I had ever tasted Thomas Hardy's Ale, I had a dream that I would find it if I went beer hunting in Connecticut. That day I followed the advice of my dream and, sure enough, found some of that legendary brew that I had been wanting to try for so long. Then it happened again. I was on the way to work one Friday and running a little early, and something made me start thinking of Konig Ludwig Weiss from the Kaltenberg brewery in Bavaria, Germany. Hey, I wondered, why not take a swing by Sherlock's Wine and Spirits and see what's new? To my surprise, a display of Konig Ludwig Weiss was standing next to the coolers. Really and truly, I kid you not.

Konig Ludwig Weiss is no ordinary beer. It is brewed at Bavaria's prestigious Kaltenberg castle brewery as well as at a secondary facility in Furstenfeldbruck. Most of the wheat beer is actually produced at the latter location. The operation, which produces over 15,000 gallons of beer a year, is overseen by Prince Luitpold, the great grandson of Bavaria’s last king.

Fans of beer legend Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter television series will be familiar with the prince and his operation. In the segment entitled Germany: The Fifth Element Kaltenberg, the prince, and his beers are featured. I had desperately wanted to try these beers since first viewing the series back in the late eighties, but they have been heretofore unavailable in the United States.

In Germany, the beer is known as Prinzregent Luitpold Weiss but has been renamed for the United States market. The brewery produces a dark wheat and a filtered wheat as well along with a Munich-style dunkel, but I have not seen these available yet in the American market.

The prince is a descendant of Germany's famous Wittelsbach family, and his line has a long tradition of involvement with brewing. The very first Wittelsbach to establish a Munich brewery was Duke Ludwig the Severe way back in 1260. Roughly a quarter of a millennium later, the famous Wilhelm IV established the Reinheitsgebot, or beer purity law in 1516. It still stands today.

In 1810 Ludwig I got married and started the tradition of Oktoberfest. In 1874, Ludwig II, the "Mad King" of Bavaria, established a brewing university in Weihenstephan. And today, Prince Luitpold continues the centuries old tradition of royal Bavarian brewing, and through arrangement with Warsteiner Importers sends his fine wheat beer to the United States.

Konig Ludwig Weiss pours to a cloudy yellow white color with a thick, creamy and towering head and a spicy vanilla nose. The palate is crackery and very tart from the wheat, slightly sour, and packed with clove and banana notes. A touch of apple is present too. The finish is, once again, rather tart and very refreshing. It's easy to drink a lot of this beer. Konig Ludwig Weiss is bottle conditioned with lager yeast; be sure to swirl the last third of the beer in the bottle to rouse the yeast before decanting into your glass for extra flavor.

Budweiser likes to call itself the king of beers, but if you’re really looking for beer royalty, you could be drinking Konig Ludiwg Weiss, a beer brewed by a Prince instead.

With Warsteiner importing, availability should be good for this beer. It is not to be missed.

Update 6/13/2014: There are few places in Atlanta as good to drink Konig Ludwig Weissbier as Der Biergarten in downtown Atlanta. That's where I found myself yesterday, and as I was very much in the mood for weissbier. Konig Ludwig Weissbier was the first beer that I enjoyed. With a full liter going for just $8, who could blame me?

As per usual, the beer was loaded with tart, crackery wheat and just the thing for a hot day. The vanilla, clove and banana were all perfectly on display, and the beer was a natural paired with a giant pretzel with German mustard, Schweinshaxe, sauerkraut, and spatzel. I certainly enjoyed it, as I'm sure you can see in the photos at right.



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