Weizen Eisbock
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant

Poured from a bottle into a Brewers Art goblet with a moderately aggressive hand. No date on the bottle. Sweet swing-top. The first eisbock that I can remember having - don't see these very often...

A: Very dark copper-red with slight haziness. 1 finger of tight off-white head. Decent retention. Light lacing. Quite pretty.

S: Sweet, dark fruit, raisins, cherry cough drops. More subtle elements of wheat - banana, slight clove. Solid.

T: Rather sweet and malty to start with a gradual transition into roasted notes and a dark chocolate-like bitterness. Very little hop to speak of. Semi-dry finish. Alcohol is present and consistent with 10% ABV. A bit medicinal when all is said and done, but good.

M: Lower carbonation with a fairly full body. A little bit sticky and syrupy, but not a major detractor.

O: My first eisbock. Pretty tasty I'd say. I'll have to seek out others. Gordon Biersch seems to perform well with the traditional German styles. Admittedly, I didn't get a whole lot of wheat characteristics, but as a ramped-up doppelbock, this does a pretty good job.

Prost!

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from bottle into a pint glass

Appearance – The beer pours a cola brown color with a huge light brown head. The head has a good level of retention, very slowly fading and leaving behind a great level of streaky lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma is a dark, boozy dunkelweizen like smell. It is heaviest of a wheaty and yeasty smell with a good dose of darker fruits of cherry, plum, and raisin. With these aromas there is also a nice spice profile with smells of clove and cardamom both there as well. Along with these more common dunkelweizen aromas comes some stronger smells of alcohol well as a bit of a toffee like aroma. The mix of smells is quite nice and overall has a very warming and welcoming aroma.

Taste –The taste begins massively sweet with tons of darker fruit flavors. Cherry is the biggest, but other flavors of plum and raisin are there as well. Along with the fruit are some wheat flavors, some spice of clove, as well as a brown bread like flavor. These flavors present upfront remain relatively constant in strength throughout the taste, creating a nice base flavor for the brew. Toward the middle, yeasty flavors really start coming to fruition along with a boozy alcohol taste. The booziness gets even more pronounced as the taste moves on, along with the spice flavors actually getting a bit stronger as well. Toward the very end, some decently potent light colored fruit flavors of apple and pear come to the tongue, adding even more sweetness to the flavor. In the end, with all the fruit, malty, yeasty and spiced flavors that are in the taste, one is left with a big and thick, warming, and sweet dunkelweizen like flavor to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel –The body of the beer is quite thick and chewy with a carbonation level that is on the lower side. The thick and chewy nature is fantastic for all the malty, wheaty, and sweet tastes of the beer and when coupled with the warming boozy taste and lower carbonation level, makes for a nice slow sipper, just what this 10 % weizen eisenbock should be.

Overall – A very enjoyable big brew. Nice and sweet with tons of darker fruit, boozy, and wheaty flavors. Perfect as a nice slow sipper on a cool fall/winter day. Very enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Dark chestnut; cloudy; small head; dissipates quickly

Aroma: Bavarian yeast smells of cloves/banana; malty; figs

Taste: Malty, creamy upfront with cloves, banana and hop bite; warming alcohol in the mid; finishes with dried fruits, hops and spices; well balanced and delicious

Remarks: Did not score A, T, S, M at that time; disregard those scores

Rich red color, so rich that it appears brown at first glance, but remains slightly transparent around the edges. Fluffy white and yellow foam collects atop the glass and likes to remain there through the duration of the consumption.

Smell is a bit deceptive. Most notable aroma is a caramel and raisin like malt, but the wheat gives off a tripel-like hints.

For an unfiltered wheat beer, the flavor gives off a lot of Belgian-style flare moreso than any hint of German influence. Usually German weisse beers are milder in ABV and have a cleaner mouthfeel. That being said, it's a wonderful full-flavored beer, and I like it whatever genre of beer they want to classify it as.

 

 

 

Poured from a 750 ml bottle with a stopper into an Aventinus glass. Looks good. Clear mahogany color with reddish highlights when held to the light. Small tan head with good retention, light lacing on the glass.

Smell is mostly malty with dark fruit. Fairly pronounced and pleasant.

Tastes good. Wheat bitterness, lemon zest and a touch of hefeweizen bananas and cloves. There is als some heavier Belgian Strong Dark Ale characteristics like candi sugar, dark fruit (plums and raisins).

Mouthfeel is rich and smooth. Not much alcohol presence. On a hot day you might be tempted to slam this one down because it don't seem that potent.

A good one from Gordon Biersch. I would drink this one again!!