Avoid All Wheat Beer Brands, Except These 10

What is your favorite type of beer? In a Statista beer survey from 2022, people listed lager (43%), pale ale (31%), pilsner (24%), and wheat beer (23%) as their go-to options. If you're a wheat beer enthusiast, you're in good company. Today, 247 Tempo reviews the best wheat beer brands sold in stores across the country, and we cover each distinct wheat beer category.

When it comes to beers made using wheat there are seven categories on Beer Advocate:

American Dark Wheat
American Pale Wheat
Dunkelweizen
Grodziskie
Hefeweizen
Kristallweizen
Witbier

The 10 best wheat beers here are ranked by overall rating in descending order; the absolute best wheat beer is the final beer in this list. Let's cheers to these prized wheat beers and breweries!

This post was updated June 21st, 2025, to reflect additional information.

Toppling Goliath Brewing Company – Thresher

Average Rating: 4.14
Number of Raters: 221
Style: American Pale Wheat
ABV: 5.8%

This pale wheat beer comes from Decorah, Iowa. Toppling Goliath won the 2021 U.S. Beer Open Grand National Championship. It's a brewery founded back in 2009 that produced a wheat IPA that deserved high praise. People rave over Thresher's floral notes and hoppy finish.

Brouwerij St. Bernardus – Wit

Average Rating: 4.15
Number of Raters: 1,825
Style: Witbier
ABV: 5.5%

This Belgian beer company is well-known for its unfiltered wheat beer brewed following traditional techniques. It's a collaboration with master brewer Pierre Celis of Hoegaarden fame. Reviewers praise it for its golden color, wheat, lemongrass, and clove notes. It's a crushable witbier that's good at any time of the year, but especially on hot summer days.

Perennial Artisan Ales – Funky Wit

Located in St. Louis, Missouri, Perennial Artisan Ales came up with a well-received witbier with floral and lemon notes. It's wheat-forward and has a slight sourness and peppery tang. The brewery doesn't list it as currently available, but they offer Daydreaming with an ABV of 4.7% as a close alternative.

Average Rating: 4.18
Number of Raters: 131
Style: Witbier
ABV: 5%

3 Floyds Brewing Co. – Gumballhead

Amarillo hops take center stage on this American wheat beer from Munster, Indiana. Gumballhead earned a score of 93 from Beer Advocate. Reviewers call it crisp and refreshing with strong hints of lemon and stone fruit. Dry hopping gives it notes of bitterness and flavor that make it very reminiscent of an IPA.

Average Rating: 4.19
Number of Raters: 6,428
Style: American Pale Wheat
ABV: 5.6%

New Glarus Brewing Company – Dancing Man

Almost every reviewer says the same thing about New Glarus Brewing Company's hefeweizen. It's a very wheat-forward beer. It's hazy and fermented in the bottle over time. While the ABV is higher than normal, it doesn't matter as the flavor of cloves, banana, and even bubble gum sweetness help it stand out. Sadly, it seems that the Wisconsin brewery retired Dancing Man. Try the seasonal Wisconsin Belgian Red cherry ale for a fruit-forward Belgian instead.

Average Rating: 4.21
Number of Raters: 1,451
Style: Hefeweizen
ABV: 7.2%

Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan –Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel

Germany is well-known for its wheat beers, so it's not surprising to find this brewery near the top of the rankings. It comes from the oldest brewery in the world, which means you're getting a recipe that has pleased crowds for centuries. It's a beer I've had many times, and I agree with other raters. The banana notes are present as the flavor of dark wheat bread and bitterness from the hops reveal themselves.

Average Rating: 4.25
Number of Raters: 3,403
Style: Dunkelweizen (Dark German Wheat Beer)
ABV: 5.3%

Trillium Brewing Company – Pier American Wheat Ale

Trillium's score from Beer Advocate is an impressive 95, and Trillium deserves its huge following of fans. This Massachusetts brewery ships beers to certain states, which makes it easier to get hold of. Beer drinkers say that the wheat beer's citrus and tropical fruit flavors pair well with the notes of wheat and herbs, plus a complementing bitterness from the hops.

Average Rating: 4.26
Number of Raters: 487
Style: American Pale Wheat
ABV: 6.4%

Side Project Brewing – Biere Blanche

Missouri's Side Project Brewing was born from a passion for both quality beers and wines. This witbier is aged in chardonnay barrels for months. It is a surprisingly refreshing beer with its notes of orange peel and coriander. Reviewers praise it for its creaminess, floral notes, and slight tartness.

Average Rating: 4.31
Number of Raters: 104
Style: Witbier
ABV: 5%

Live Oak Brewing Company – HefeWeizen

Austin, Texas, enters the list with a hefeweizen that delivers an impressively thick head. It's brewed to be a traditional take on Bavarian wheat beers, and it delivers in style. One whiff brings banana, clove, and vanilla to mind. It's not an overly sweet beer, but it gets rave reviews for smelling similar to a loaf of fresh wheat bread.

Average Rating: 4.34
Number of Raters: 1,858
Style: Hefeweizen
ABV: 5.3%

Civil Society Brewing – Pulp

Florida's Civil Society Brewing is ranked 96 by Beer Advocate, landing it at the top of this list. Drinkers rave over the creaminess, Citra hops, and noticeable orange rind essence. Some liken it to an orange-forward IPA, though it is a wheat beer. There are variations of it that increase the ABV, too.