General Mills’ cereal brand Wheaties has partnered with Fulton, a craft brewery in Minneapolis, to create a limited-edition Hefeweizen beer named HefeWheaties.
While not actually containing Wheaties, the wheat beer helps to establish a connection between the two brands that made for “something interesting,” General Mills said.
“We were intrigued from the get-go on this idea for many reasons, including that we’re both Minneapolis companies, and that the beer and the cereal both started from the same place in terms of raw ingredients and the same city,” said Ryan Petz, president and co-founder of Fulton.
“We had been sampling a number of Hefeweizens, so we had been discussing with the Wheaties team what we liked. Someone on the team said HefeWheaties, and it kind of sprung out from there.”
The Hefeweizen is a southern German style of wheat beer, typically brewed with over 50% malted wheat, making it a natural fit for Wheaties.
The Hefe- prefix means “with yeast”. This German-style beer often has a cloudy appearance because of the high wheat content and has a little bit of hop bitterness.
Typically served in a traditional Weizen glass, HefeWheaties will be the first beer of this style brewed by Fulton. It is brewed with water; malted wheat; malted barley; hops from Germany, the US and Australia; and a yeast strain specifically developed for fermenting American-style wheat beers.
“This was a true partnership between Wheaties and Fulton,” said Wheaties marketing manager David Oehler. “Both teams were passionate about this project and got to work quickly. We enjoyed the chance to collaborate with Fulton throughout the entire process from idea generation to can design.”
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