At Mad Fritz, we use wheat in a variety of ways and are always curious to try new varieties in our recipes. Variety plays a huge role in aroma as well as flavor impact. In the past, our weizenbock was made with Sonora wheat, which is a soft wheat berry. It contributed a honeycomb-like aroma intertwined with the spice of the Bavarian Wheat yeast. Sonora wheat is texturally similar to the white wheat we now use. We had to modify the recipe due to the limited sourcing and have begun growing it ourselves for harvest next year.
We have some Ethiopian Blue Tinge emmer wheat that we plan to play with soon and will be hoping to expand our plantings of this as well. It’s critical to choose a beer style that will help promote its flavor expression while not burying it in hops or other additions. Probably the most exciting part of working with wheat is there are a lot of varieties out there, but not many people work with them in beer, so it’s another whole flavor palate to play with.
I’ve been lucky to know and work with a lot of craft maltsters, and by fostering these relationships, I can get artisanal-wheat varieties for my beers. But it’s not always easy or inexpensive. For example, I couldn’t use my traditional mill with the Sonora wheat. I had to take it to a community stone miller for grinding, and it runs $2–$3 per pound.