Winter Weizenbock
Garrison Brewing Company

Notes from 2008-03
Sweet aroma, banana and clove esters. Hazy copper-brown,with a smooth, white, lingering head. Malty.It leans too much towards the sweet. Not much discernible hop character, but mild bitterness. Herbal, peaches, or some stone fruit at the end. Almost too smooth and velvety on the palate, a bit of carbonation bite. Some hot alcohol flavour.

Very nice, but not particularly well-balanced.

Picked this up at the brewery during my last trip to Halifax. I poured a 16.9oz bottle into my Smokestack goblet. It pours a hazy brown with a 1 inch head that disappears into nothingness and leaves little lacing. The aroma is cloves, dark fruits and berries, with dates and raspberries coming to mind. The taste is big up front on the cloves. Vanilla, bananas, and nutty whole wheat come out. The mouthfeel is fuller then than I had expected. It coats the whole mouth in its flavors with just a bit of carbonation. This is a good beer that is easily drinkable.

Very hazy mahogany coloured brew with a creamy and abundant tan head. Extremely good lacing. Huge banana and bubblegum notes in the aroma, mixed in with warming seasonal spices and a grain backdrop. The flavour is as multi-layered and complex as the aroma, with the banana and spices to the fore, with a massive sweet breadiness. Slight warming alcohol finish. Take my word for it, this is good. Medium bodied and chewy, with good carbonation. Drinkability is very moreish despite the above average alcohol level. Its like a homegrown aventinus!

A - cloudy, pretty much red. Gushed when I popped the cap, lots of carbonation, but big head receeds quickly.

S - lots of spicy clove, but not overpowering, nuts, creamy banana, and hint of dark fruit

T - clove is the dominant flavour, but still nicely blended with accompanying flavours. Malt is not overly sweet, but appears to be well attenuated, with minimal hopping.

M - Medium bodied, full carbonation makes for easy drinking, gentle alcohol warmth

D - solid interpretation of the style, and a rare treat to have on this side of the ocean.

Reminds me a lot of the Half Pints Weizenbock, although it's been over a year since I tried that one. An easy drinking, well balanced weizenbock. After brewing one of these myself last fall, I have an appreciation for how difficult this style is to achieve the proper balance of wheat, malt, body, sweetness, esters and phenols.

I finished off the bottle with a plate of leftover pork and sauerkraut, which brought out more sweetness in the beer, and increased the overall enjoyment. Glad I got the chance to try this one!

Thanks to Demcorhip for the bottle, and kudos to NASH on his final Garrison creation! Way to go out in style!

Well looks like once again i get to be the first. Thanks to the awesome former brewer, NASH, for the bottle. Boo's to Garrison for giving him the boot. What goes around has a way of coming back around...

A very nice looking brew, hazy bronze body is capped with a nice one finger light tan coloured head that fades to leave a thin collar. Quite mildly carbonated, and manages to leave thin and intricate lacings.

A nice nose on this one. Some banana, a touch of clove, and hints at richer dark fruit such as dates. All of this is going on over top of the tempting slightly nutty aroma of whole wheat. Aroma finishes off with a slight hoppy scent of lemongrass. Pretty impressive aroma overall!

Wow, pretty impressive. Rich malts give a nice whole grain multigrain bready flavour. Pale barley malts apparent, but also loads of wheat, giving it a slightly nutty character. Yeasty phenols of clove, banana, and a bubblegummy taste all show up to add character to the party! Finishes in a light and grassy hop kiss with a touch of lemon.

A solid medium bodied brew. One almost has to chew their way through the wheat and barley in this one. Nice amount of phenols, as well as light touch of hops, to balance out the rich yet smooth, almost sweet malted barley and wheat. A rich and decadent brew, that measures up quite nicely to the Gold Standard for the style, Aventinus.

A great example of the style, wherever Greg ends up brewing next i hope he brews this again. Actually this is pretty damn drinkable for what it is, a big bodied weizenbock. While it would be nice to sip on this all night long, savouring one is definitely a treat in and of itself. Kudos to Greg for making another kick assed brew before getting his ass kicked out the door! Will have to take this head to head with Aventinus sometime, this brew should be able to hold up quite nicely to it. Glad i have a few more bottles lying around, imagine it should do well with a year or two on it.