Remember when I had a discussion about beers that I'm not sure American brewers could recreate? This may be one of them. A seemingly simple beer with an obscene amount of depth and subtlety. If I had a "ten beers you wanted to bring to a desert island" list,....this one would most likely make that list. As you can tell, I know I'm going to like this one coming in, but I thought I'd give it a full review for all you newbies out there, so maybe you have an idea what to expect.
This beer is a "weizenbock" which is essentially (at least this specific beer) is part hefeweizen, part doppelbock. It has all the yummy esters (crap you taste from the yeast) and pairs it beautifully with a heavier dose of malt. This particular bottle essentially tells you that this is a wheat version of a doppelbock.
This is a 16.9oz/500ml bottle, and you can usually find it for like 4-4.50 a bottle at a good liquor store. As this is double-malted, it clocks in at a stout 8.2% abv. I poured this into a big hefe-glass pretty much similar to the one shown in the pic on the right.
The pour is dark like a big heavy doppelbock, but a little more hazy and with some golden hues. The head is a big, off-white, fluffy,, almost root-beer float like, and stands about 3 fingers. It almost looks like you could take a spoon to it like whipped cream on top of your milk shake. Effing beautiful. After about 5 minutes, a good finger's worth remains.
The first thing you get in the nose is a big sharp clove, big banana, and like any yummy hefeweizen, a fair amount of bubble gum. This smells effing delicious. (that's 2 "effings" if you're counting). After a few more whiffs, there is a definite alcohol presence. Not a huge amount of booze, but more than you'd find in most wheats. Overall, the clove dominates.
Taste is everything you find in the nose, but with a bit of caramel and almost sugary malts. The alcohol and banana meld together, while the clove and the bubblegum linger on the tongue. It's all very smooth and almost creamy at times. This is just like the name of the beer would suggest, it's 1/2 wheat, and 1/2 doppelbock. Not as crisp as a good hefe, and not as syrupy as a normal doppelbock.....but a mix of the two. There's a hint of dark fruit-like stuff in there that you get with the bigger dark malts, but the caramel and sweetness I described are certainly more prevalent. It never feels overly heavy and is obscenely drinkable for it being 8.2% abv. This is a ton of ingredients and flavors to put into one brew, but at no times does it become overwhelming or too much to handle on the tongue. (that's what she said)
This is simply one of the finest beers on the planet, and maybe one of the top 5 brews (my humble opinion of course) to come out of Germany. It's big, complex, beautiful, but still subtle enough to be extremely accessible, even to the noobiest of the beer noobs. If some d-bag out there refuses to drink "dark beers" but is a lover of all things Blue Moon and Blvd. Wheat, then this is the beer to show them that not all dark beers look and taste like Guinness draft. This gives them all the wheat-y goodness they want and introduces them to some darker malts and the flavors and sweetness that comes with it. This is the definition of a "big beer" but remains a quintessential German brew in that it's really really easy to drink.
If you don't enjoy this beer at least a little, I have a hard time believing you are even a fan of beer in general.
Verdict: 9/10
Cheers, biatches.