Gutmann

The brewery in Titting, a small town in Bavaria's Altmühltal valley, has roots going back to 1707, when the Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt had it built within his moated castle. The Gutmann family has been brewing there across six generations, and wheat beer is the house speciality. Everything else at the brewery is essentially built around that one style.

Gutmann Hefeweizen is brewed using open fermentation vessels and bottle-conditioned with fresh yeast, which is the traditional approach that produces the characteristic cloudiness and the banana and clove notes the style is known for. The beer is not pasteurised, which means it has a relatively short shelf life but a livelier, fresher character than many of the mass-produced alternatives.

The alcohol-free range reflects the same focus: Alkoholfreies Hefeweizen and a Dunkles Alkoholfreies Hefeweizen (brewed with spelt), both under 0.5% ABV. The dark version in particular is less common in the AF market, where most wheat beer offerings stick to the paler style. Gutmann's version uses roasted malts to give it a nuttier, more complex base than the standard.

Since 1989, the brewery has sourced its grain through a regional cooperative with controlled natural farming practices, which puts them ahead of the curve for provenance. It's a small, specialist operation producing some of the better traditional AF wheat beers available in the UK through German import specialists.

The Collection

Hefe Dunkle