Bavaria, Germany
Erdinger
Bavarian wheat beer specialist and the largest wheat beer brewery in the world, with a substantial alcohol-free range.
Why it matters
Made alcohol-free wheat beer a mainstream category well before the wider no-alcohol boom.
Details
| Founded | 1886 |
|---|---|
| Where | Bavaria, Germany |
| Status | Operating |
Reference beers
- Erdinger Alkoholfrei
An alcohol-free wheat beer, and one of the products that established that the category could taste like beer rather than like an apology.
- Erdinger Kristall
A filtered Bavarian wheat beer, brilliantly clear and noticeably crisper than the same brewery’s hazy version.
- Erdinger Weissbier
The most widely exported Bavarian wheat beer, and for most drinkers outside Germany the first weissbier they meet.
BeerHQ carries only the products that anchor something. This is not the brewery’s full range.
Styles it is associated with
- Weissbier — Bavarian wheat beer defined by its yeast: pronounced banana and clove over a soft, cloudy, highly carbonated body.
- Alcohol-free wheat beer — An alcohol-free wheat beer — often the most convincing of the category, because wheat body and yeast esters survive dealcoholisation well.
Traditions
- Bavarian lager brewing — Cold fermentation and extended cold storage, developed in Bavarian cellars long before refrigeration and later exported worldwide.
Other breweries in Germany
Aecht Schlenkerla · Augustiner · Ayinger · Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus · Berliner Kindl · Bitburger Brauerei · Cölner Hofbräu Früh · Dortmunder Actien-Brauerei
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.