In Western culture, wheat is more than a foundation of cuisine, frequently chosen to symbolically represent the life-giving power of nature. Its history goes all the way back to the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago. For countless generations, wheat was one of the wild grains selected and replanted, and eventually nurtured into high-yielding domesticated versions. Its cousin barley was carefully developed into the perfect brewing grain. While much of wheat breeding was aimed at making better bread, evidence shows that some wheat was bred for brewing.
Wheat is still as valued for brewing today as it was at beer’s dawn. As early as the 10th century, beer in Northern Europe was clearly differentiated into red and white varieties, often associated with specific cities. These early wheat-based white beers are the ancestors of most of the classic wheat styles enjoyed today.
Wheat beers share a pedigree as well as confusingly similar names. Beers called “white” are typically wheat-based. In German, you have weisse, which is more commonly applied to the sour Berliner style, and weissbier (more properly weißbier), referring to the Bavarian style, which is also sometimes referred to as weizen—meaning wheat. In Belgium there is an important classic style called witbier or bière blanche—“white beer,” in Flemish and French, respectively.