In The Dark Wheat
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Murky milk chocolate brown with the slimmest of pumpkin colored edges that might have been a trick of the light. An incredibly gentle pour (to maximize the amount of beer) left no more than a wisp of tan foam that quickly faded, leaving almost no lace.

The aroma was absent during the upper half of the pint. It was only after at least 10-15 minutes of warming that faint cocoa notes (chocolate malt) and hints of fruit (elderberry juice) became evident. No off-scents and smelling like the style are the only things that earned it an average score.

To be fair, In The Dark Wheat is not the beer that was intended, since chocolate malt rather than chocolate rye was used (not wdmrock's fault). The earthy rye would have given the flavor profile more character, which it desperately needed.

Again, warming helped. However, it only succeeded in turning muted flavor into... less muted flavor. Specifics included cocoa and a tangy fruitiness that still was not identifiable as elderberry (or even berry). Tart more than bitter more than sweet is not the way that I would have designed ITDW.

The body/mouthfeel was thin and was too harshly bubbled to boot. Yet again, some improvement over time (on both counts) allowed the score to be bumped.

In The Dark Wheat is not up the West Des Moines Rock Bottom's usual standards. Too bad a brewing mistake was made, because the beer as designed would almost certainly have been better.