Tropical Thunder
Devils Backbone Brewing Company
- From:
- Devils Backbone Brewing Company
- Virginia, United States
- Style:
- Kristallweizen
- ABV:
- 5.3%
- Score:
- 80
- Avg:
- 3.45 | pDev: 11.88%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 12
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Feb 21, 2017
- Added:
- Feb 05, 2016
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 7
SCORE
80
Good
80
Good
"Unique fruity notes arise in this filtered wheat beer from using new school Mandarin Bavaria & Hull Melon hops, classic Bavarian Weiss beer yeast and a touch of dehydrated pineapple juice. This DB Family Brew was led by Senior Brewer Josh French.
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Reviewed by tone77 from Pennsylvania
3.37/5 rDev -2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
3.37/5 rDev -2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a golden color with a very small head. Smell has some banana, hints of pineapple. Taste is wheat, a bit of hops, mild pineapple. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall isn't really what I expected, but not to bad.
Jan 07, 2017
Reviewed by hophugger from Virginia
3.12/5 rDev -9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25
3.12/5 rDev -9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25
Pours a slightly pale yellow with decent head, nice lacing and plenty of carbonation. Pineapple taste is too light and slightly bitter. It is, however a very crisp and refreshing beer
Sep 25, 2016
Reviewed by SoccerSeuss from Virginia
3.4/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
3.4/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
From a variety pack, poured from a bottle into a Weizen glass. Dated 5/23/26 on bottle neck
Pale golden color and clear with a nice two finger head. Continuous bubbles from bottom of glass.
Had a nice pleasant aroma, banana with a hint of sweetness and pineapple.
The taste was a bit bitter with a touch of pineapple on the back end. Certainly did not live up to the smell as I was expecting/hoping for a bit more pineapple.
Dry feel with a bit of bite.
Though I was excited when I saw pineapple on the label it certainly didn't live up to expectations ... but it didn't stop me from having another. I saw one reviewer that said it tasted much better from the tap so something I intend to keep in mind if I see it on the offerings. Overall not a bad beer.
Sep 17, 2016Pale golden color and clear with a nice two finger head. Continuous bubbles from bottom of glass.
Had a nice pleasant aroma, banana with a hint of sweetness and pineapple.
The taste was a bit bitter with a touch of pineapple on the back end. Certainly did not live up to the smell as I was expecting/hoping for a bit more pineapple.
Dry feel with a bit of bite.
Though I was excited when I saw pineapple on the label it certainly didn't live up to expectations ... but it didn't stop me from having another. I saw one reviewer that said it tasted much better from the tap so something I intend to keep in mind if I see it on the offerings. Overall not a bad beer.
Reviewed by Pantalones from Virginia
3.35/5 rDev -2.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
3.35/5 rDev -2.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Last bottle of this one from the variety pack box. Bottling date is May 23rd, 2016.
The beer is a pale-ish gold in color, very clear but not completely without haze (lights will shine through but it's not pilsner-level clarity, though certainly less hazy than a hefeweizen would normally be.) Lots of little bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass. Upon pouring a decent layer of white foam formed, but this has quickly shrank away to a thin coating on top with thicker bits here and there along with the thicker ring around the edges.
Smell is pretty nice -- I can definitely pick up the pineapple, some sweetness, and I think some banana-like yeasty thing all blending together. Maybe a hint of something else, citrusy? Just a bit of spiciness hiding off in the background too. Overall this just smells really good.
Taste is, unfortunately, not as great as the smell. Banana yeastiness is in there right away, but the pineapple is barely present compared to the smell (which is really odd considering how prominent the pineapple was when I had this beer on tap at the brewery back in January... just like my first bottle from the variety pack, this seems like a very different beer than I remember having back then.) And then there's this unexpectedly big blast of bitterness on the end. Just a really harsh spicy-bitter hop thing that comes in right at the end and doesn't seem to really fit. It overpowers all of the other flavors and really makes the beer come across as some sort of weird IPA rather than any sort of weizenbier. It becomes a bit less harsh after a few drinks, but is still definitely there and leads to a bit of a lingering weird bitterness on the end. Almost picking up a weird sourishness mingling in with the bitterness on the end. Burps are fruity, the pineapple finally making itself known (but too little too late.)
Mouthfeel is decent at first, a little prickly but not bad. Then after that blast of bitterness (and occasional almost-sour funkiness) hits at the end, it gets ridiculously dry. Overall the mouthfeel is not too bad, but it is a little weird.
Sad to say, this beer did not live up to the high hopes I had for it after trying a sample at the brewery back when I visited them in January. What's in the bottles in this variety pack really does not seem like the same beer I had then, and the change is not a good one.
Aug 03, 2016The beer is a pale-ish gold in color, very clear but not completely without haze (lights will shine through but it's not pilsner-level clarity, though certainly less hazy than a hefeweizen would normally be.) Lots of little bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass. Upon pouring a decent layer of white foam formed, but this has quickly shrank away to a thin coating on top with thicker bits here and there along with the thicker ring around the edges.
Smell is pretty nice -- I can definitely pick up the pineapple, some sweetness, and I think some banana-like yeasty thing all blending together. Maybe a hint of something else, citrusy? Just a bit of spiciness hiding off in the background too. Overall this just smells really good.
Taste is, unfortunately, not as great as the smell. Banana yeastiness is in there right away, but the pineapple is barely present compared to the smell (which is really odd considering how prominent the pineapple was when I had this beer on tap at the brewery back in January... just like my first bottle from the variety pack, this seems like a very different beer than I remember having back then.) And then there's this unexpectedly big blast of bitterness on the end. Just a really harsh spicy-bitter hop thing that comes in right at the end and doesn't seem to really fit. It overpowers all of the other flavors and really makes the beer come across as some sort of weird IPA rather than any sort of weizenbier. It becomes a bit less harsh after a few drinks, but is still definitely there and leads to a bit of a lingering weird bitterness on the end. Almost picking up a weird sourishness mingling in with the bitterness on the end. Burps are fruity, the pineapple finally making itself known (but too little too late.)
Mouthfeel is decent at first, a little prickly but not bad. Then after that blast of bitterness (and occasional almost-sour funkiness) hits at the end, it gets ridiculously dry. Overall the mouthfeel is not too bad, but it is a little weird.
Sad to say, this beer did not live up to the high hopes I had for it after trying a sample at the brewery back when I visited them in January. What's in the bottles in this variety pack really does not seem like the same beer I had then, and the change is not a good one.
Reviewed by argock from Virginia
2.33/5 rDev -32.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.25
2.33/5 rDev -32.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.25
Poured from 12 oz brown bottle into a clear glass tulip. 05.23.16 on bottle neck.
A: Slightly hazy golden with persistent 1/2-1-finger white head with a few stray lace spots. I thought krystalweizen were filtered to be clear?
S: Heavy on the cloves and sweat socks with some band aid and medicinal aromas thrown in.
T: Taste is harsh and less medicinal but very clovey with a bit of soft pale malt in the back end and faint fruit juice in the aftertaste. Very harshly bitter with mineral and aspirin in the finish.
M: Very dry with harsh clove and hops leading to big astringency.
O: Horrible. Makes me wonder if it was infected -- I was expecting a fruity weizen but what I have tastes more like harsh, funky saison.
Jul 31, 2016A: Slightly hazy golden with persistent 1/2-1-finger white head with a few stray lace spots. I thought krystalweizen were filtered to be clear?
S: Heavy on the cloves and sweat socks with some band aid and medicinal aromas thrown in.
T: Taste is harsh and less medicinal but very clovey with a bit of soft pale malt in the back end and faint fruit juice in the aftertaste. Very harshly bitter with mineral and aspirin in the finish.
M: Very dry with harsh clove and hops leading to big astringency.
O: Horrible. Makes me wonder if it was infected -- I was expecting a fruity weizen but what I have tastes more like harsh, funky saison.
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