464. G. Schneider & Sohn Aventinus

Aventinus is from Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn in Kelheim, Germany. Now there’s a name, hmmm? Private and a Weissbierbrauerei? Hot damn! Described on the bottle as “Germany’s Original Wheat-Doppelbock,” otherwise known as a weizenbock, Aventinus has a rich and bready malt nose with banana esters and clove phenols—there is no vanilla in the nose, but I can taste it in the finish. The creaminess along with the raisin and dark fruit aromas make me wish that I could find some form of banana bread that smelled anything remotely like this. That would strengthen my breakfast experience. And no, there is no need for some sort of liquid bread joke here. Flavors start rich and bready with a soft gentle wheat character on the palate. The banana, clove, and dark fruit flavors are all there too, balanced with the slight candy-like sweetness found in the middle. The finish is rather clean; most flavors drop away, allowing the dark fruit and gentle creaminess to linger lightly on the palate along with a hint of vanilla and clove. Strengths are the creamy soft, rich wheat malt character; it is gentle and rounded on the palate with a slight bite from the carbonation, which helps clean and close the beer, leaving just a touch of the sweet vanilla and clove lingering. This beer is also undoubtedly German; if it were a state, it would be North Dakota: solid and stolid, no-nonsense, eminently Midwestern, practical, and very good for what it is. Certainly not Minnesota—that’s too fancy-pants. And Wisconsin? Save your cheese-heads and saunas for the Green Bay Packers. More like nothing experimental or risky or out of character. That’s it precisely.

From the bottle: “Aventinus, the world’s classic top-fermenting wheat-dopplebock, has received accolades for the perfect balance of fruity spiciness (banana, clove, vanilla) and notes of chocolate (crystal & dark malts). Unfiltered, unpasteurized, bottle-conditioned. Enjoy Aventinus, the massive twin of Schneider Weisse.”

ABV: 8.2%

(3/22/2011)

408. Jeffrey McElfresh Weizenbock

This beer comes in the nice, tall 16.9 oz (500 ml for those of you scoring at home) German-style beer bottle. All authentic and shit. Awesome. Pouring a rich toffee and molasses brown, this beer also has ruby and orange hints that emerge when held up to the light, even with the slight cloudiness from the yeast. The head is ivory, and slightly profuse, with a rich, lightly sweet malty nose mixed with dark fruit—raisins and possibly prunes—backed up by molasses and soft banana esters. Flavors open with bready malt coupled with wheat flavor, chewy melanoidins, and low levels of spicy clove phenol; the middle has banana yeast esters and some richer molasses sweetness that shifts into a more candy-like sweetness combined with a wheaty nuttiness in the finish. The finish also contains a small amount of hop bitterness that helps balance the light alcohol flavor, both lingering lightly on the palate to help the beer end clean, although with some residual flavors. The mouthfeel is creamy and a bit chewy, with a alcohol warmth at the back of the throat, and the carbonation is bright but does not limit the rich maltiness of the beer (although combined with the alcohol and bitterness does help dry out the beer on the palate). A good beer, but one I know less about as a whole, so I am less able to place it. The beer has good flavor; the alcohol warmth is slightly high, bordering on providing a bit too much heat. But the malt complexity and depth works well in the beer, and provides a solid body. Aging this beer could allow the flavors and alcohol to better marry, helping limit the warmth at the end while also allowing some of the fruit flavors to further develop across the middle.

You can’t hide that Grand Cru from me!

(9/2/2010)