Sudwerk 20th Anniversary Dunkel Weiss Bock
Sudwerk Brewing Company

 

 

 

Poured from a 22 oz. bottle into a tulip.

Appearance: My pour has a ruby brown color with a tan sea foam froth. The beer retains some of the head, but mostly just a collar.

Smell: There is a bready note that gets lost among some fig, banana, spice, fig, and a strong cranberry tartness.

Taste: The tartness is what is most interesting about this beer. A bready malt starts soft and sweet, with some dark fruits. A bit of banana, clove, and all spice hide behind tart cherry and cranberry flavors. The finish is a bit sour.

Mouthfeel: The sour kind of creates a puckering dryness that detracts a bit from the flavor. The front is medium-full bodied and a bit sweet. The carbonation is on the bubbly side.

Overall: This was interesting, even though I don't think it was intended to be tart.

A - Pours cola, full inch light tan head, chunky and dissipates slowly. Lace the thick bubbled sort.

S - Sharp initially to the nose, spices come out. Bread behind, and a little banana, I think.

T - Bread really here, with Thanksgiving spices accenting. Banana bread comes to mind slightly.

M - Medium to full, creamy, almost over carbed, good balance.

D - Not bad offering. Maybe not sessionable, but I will get through the bomber.

22 oz. bomber, I was surprised to see a Sudwerk bottle in this presentation, but since I think they're a great brewery I picked this up at the BevMo Long Beach, the bottle art is just a big snake-like S, poured into a Franziskaner Hefeweissbier Christmas glass,

A: Pours brown with a long lived tan head, some light lacing.

S: Clove and alcohol with some dark bread.

T: This is a pretty clove heavy weizenbock, I like it, I think I could have a root canal after this brew and still be okay. Very good dark bread flavours, really no banana esters, that's okay, I like the raw dark wheat and bread flavours.

M: Medium-bodied, very light carbonation, very smooth.

D: A solid weizenbock for sure, I would have liked a little more complexity, Aventinus costs less - so am I going to go back to this - no, but I'm glad to try it, I like Sudwerk a lot, it's well made for sure.

I picked up a 22oz bottle of this recently. I was initially intrigued by the unusual deviation from Sudwerk's usual presentation, as this bomber is only labeled with a giant red and white "S." The beer pours a dark brown color and immediately wafts the familiar smell of spice, cloves and bananas that I've come to associate with Sudwerk Hefe Weizen. There's a good two inches of head in my Weizen glass, but it settles pretty quickly and doesn't leave any lacing behind. The taste is pretty much what you would expect from the name, sort of a roastier, hotter version of their Hefe. All in all, this isn't a bad brew, but with all the fuss made about a 20th anniversary, it could have been better. If forced to choose between buying this again and spending a few extra dollars on a six pack of Sudwerk Hefe, I'd probably go with the Hefe.