American Wheat Beers are cousins to the German Wheat styles and often have similar recipes, but they can also contain much more hop bitterness while containing much less yeast induced fruitiness and spicy-ness. Many variations of the American Wheat style exist and like the German Roggenbier, American Wheat Beers can also be brewed with rye.
Many American brewers refer to their American Wheat Beers as Hefeweizens, but there is a very distinct difference between the German and American wheat beer styles and most American beers labeled as such do not fit into the German Wheat category. American Wheat beers are generally much light on the fruit and spice flavor components that are found in traditional German wheat beers and become more of a showcase for malt flavors.
Some American Wheat beers are sweet and very easy drinking, but many display a strong wheat character in their flavor. Additionally, some American Wheat beers can be very aggressively hopped.
