Skull Crushing Ape
Devils Backbone Brewing Company

Skull Crushing ApeSkull Crushing Ape
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From:
Devils Backbone Brewing Company
 
Virginia, United States
Style:
Weizenbock
ABV:
8%
Score:
87
Avg:
3.86 | pDev: 11.14%
Reviews:
19
Ratings:
53
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 06, 2017
Added:
Aug 01, 2014
Wants:
  3
Gots:
  20
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of argock
Reviewed by argock from Virginia

3.54/5  rDev -8.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Poured from a 12 oz brown bottle into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint glass. Reviewed from notes.

A: Very dark brown to black with soft light beige 1-finger head which leaves wavy forms of lacing.

S: Highly phenolic with some fruity banana yeast and dark chocolate

T: Highly complex, about to the point where flavors are muddled and hard to distinguish. A high level of phenols carry through with some banana breadiness and prune and raisin dark fruit notes. More bitter, minerally phenols in the finish.

M: Fairly light-medium bodied for such a big beer with soft carbonation.

O: An interesting experimental beer but a lot going on to the effect of nothing standing out aside from heavy phenolics.
Mar 06, 2017
 
Rated: 4.39 by generallee from Virginia

Dec 29, 2016
 
Rated: 3.39 by Skabiski from Maryland

Dec 01, 2016
Photo of GlennWB
Rated by GlennWB from West Virginia

4.02/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Good beer for sipping. On tap at Pies and pints 7-2016
Jul 11, 2016
Photo of boilermakerbrew
Reviewed by boilermakerbrew from Indiana

3.71/5  rDev -3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
A schwarz-weizen-doppelbock....hmm.....I'll bite. It is a nearly black pour, maybe just a hint of brown on the edges and a touch of haze can be seen. Head is small and a deep tan in color with good lacing. Dry, dark malts lead off the scent and dominate most of the smell, with a strong secondary scent of the weizen yeast (banana ans spice) underneath. Just a touch of sweeter chocolate is also in the smell.

Well, the style description is spot on with the flavor of this beer, as a ton of different things are going on here. The spicy and fruity yeast appears first and displays typical german/weizen flavors. Next comes the drier and darker flavors. Plenty of burnt, black malts and just a touch of chocolate malts are in there and are mostly dry in flavor profile. The back end of the flavor is a mashup of the previously mentioned flavor, with the yeast being a little stronger than the malts and the malts being the lingering flavor on the tongue after the drink. This one feels a little more like a weizen on the palate than bock or schwarz, as it is fairly thick, a little grainy, and pretty highly carbonated.

Overall, this is definitely a unique beer that displays all of its namesake styles in the flavor. I'm not sure how big of a fan of the fruity yeast flavors I am to be mixed with the dry and dark malts, but it is done pretty well overall. If this didn't have the funky yeast flavors, I would be all over this, now, I'm cool with it.
Jun 28, 2016
Photo of tigg924
Reviewed by tigg924 from Massachusetts

3.68/5  rDev -4.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Pours opaque, black in color, with one inch head. Taste is banana, wheat, and dark wheat bread. Solid, tasty, standard weizenbock. Very clean and goes down way too easy. Could have several. I prefer others in the style, but this is very tasty
Jun 25, 2016
 
Rated: 4.47 by RBorsato from Virginia

Jun 15, 2016
 
Rated: 2.73 by Lbry from Tennessee

Jun 13, 2016
Photo of WunderLlama
Reviewed by WunderLlama from Massachusetts

3.78/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Bottle poured into chalice

Dark brown liquid , ring of taupe foam

Faint aroma, whiff of choclate , whiff of banana

Taste follows aroma, whiff of chocolate, whiff of banana

Medium mouthfeel , get a little abv
May 29, 2016
 
Rated: 4 by TheBeerdedCharmer from Pennsylvania

May 22, 2016
 
Rated: 4.19 by SonictheBeerhog from New York

May 22, 2016
 
Rated: 2.96 by yaksurf from North Carolina

May 21, 2016
Photo of GarthDanielson
Reviewed by GarthDanielson from Virginia

3.87/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a growler into a shaker pint, the beer is a deep, dark, brownish-black coloring with a low profile, foamy, clingy, off-white head. Aromas of chocolate, roasted hazelnut, toasted grains, banana, and hints of smoke. Very rich and robust nose. Flavors are heavily roasted forward, with a solid blend of banana, chestnut, and chocolate highlights. Solid backbone of toasted wheat, with smoky highlights throughout. The body is full and smooth, but still with the characteristic light feel of a wheat beer. Solid, richly sweet aftertaste, with a lingering blend of chocolate, banana, and hazelnut. Smooth, soft, slow, lingering finish. Very good beer.
May 21, 2016
Photo of cjgiant
Reviewed by cjgiant from District of Columbia

3.97/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Bottle dated 2/16:
Pours so dark, I'm going to call it black. The head doesn't build up, and I was disappointed until I saw it's staying power. Full coverage in a thin glass of at least a few millimeters, creamy in looks, provides spotty lacing.

Nose is dark bread and a little cola. There's also a little yeasty note and a bit of wheat.

The taste is strong on the dark grains - toasted dark bread from the Schwartzbier, and cola perhaps indicating the bock side of the beer. There is also a decent bit of spiciness in the profile adding to the cola and bitterness, guessing this is from the bittering hops. Funny thing is it comes up front. The "weizen" part seems to come in late with wheat grain notes and even a little banana note entering late in (with warmth and in each sip).

Prickly carbonation bite on a medium body. Combined with the spiciness of the bittering (that lingers), the extra carbonation is lightly distracting.

Nice flavor profile, with the Schwartz taking the fore, and the Weizen bringing up the back. Feel could be a little softer, I think, but otherwise an enjoyable beverage.
May 01, 2016
Photo of garymuchow
Reviewed by garymuchow from Minnesota

3.99/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.75
Wonderful rich malt immediately upon opening that is dopplebock but also carries the darker malts too. Some nice complexity including darker fruit/berries.
Closer to Schwartzbier in color with few highlights. Firm tan head with some lacing.
Complex taste and feel. Rich and grows richer as it coats the mouth with flavor. A smooth fruity taste that gets pushed by the darker malts towards roast, plus the moderate bitterness of the hops.
Full rich feel and very soft yet abundant carbonation.
What an interesting mix. The part I get the least is the wheat. There is some graininess and doughy qualities. This may seem weird but maybe there is too much going on here. It's quite a cascade of flavors. I like it.
May 01, 2016
 
Rated: 4.26 by PaperWizard from Maryland

Apr 30, 2016
 
Rated: 4 by terpdog from Maryland

Apr 27, 2016
Photo of 88caprice
Reviewed by 88caprice from Virginia

4/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a bottle into a glass.

Overall: Never had anything like this. Enjoyable, but unusual. Advertised as a "Schwartz-Weizen-Dopplebock," I would say it's mostly weizen upfront with a dopplebock foundation and brief appearances of schwartz throughout.

Look: A dark, murky, prune juice brown. Can barely get any light to come through. Nearly black. Frothy cap and fine lacing.
Smell: At first, a powerful ripe banana smell with a spice kick and some chocolate undertones. Later, an overripe banana and charred malt smell comes in.
Taste: Strong weizen banana esters with a clove-like spice burst. There is a hefty wave of alcohol at the swallow, which settles into a boozy, malty dopplebock profile. Soon after there is a roasty, almost charred malt aftertaste, similar to a schwartz.
Feel: Smooth, not over carbonated. Medium bodied, a little thick.
Apr 27, 2016
 
Rated: 3.75 by mflamar from New York

Apr 21, 2016
Photo of OldSwampy
Reviewed by OldSwampy from Virginia

4.24/5  rDev +9.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Dark brown with a tan head. The head was not especially large or durable. If that's a complaint, it's my only complaint about this beer. Nose: reminds me of dark mushroom gravy for a steak (and that's good). Funky in a good way. Taste: malty, dark, and funky, like the smell. Some tingle up front, some chocolate, some sweetness.. Nice expansion. Mouthfeel was not at all clingy, though perhaps it could be called a bit thick, and this fades quickly enough. I like this quite a bit; it's just a little different from other dark beers. Funny label and name as well. So far my skull has not been crushed. Label picture reminds me of promo ads for the 70s remake of King Kong.

Brown bottle, poured into a glass. Bottle stamp says "BONED 03:49 02.04.16"
Apr 14, 2016
Skull Crushing Ape from Devils Backbone Brewing Company
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 53 ratings