Banana Split 7 Inch
3 Floyds Brewing Co.

 

On-tap at WFM lincoln park.

Served in a Bells tulip glass, no head at all (also too cold). Murky dishwater look about it. Opaque brown. Heavenly smell of frozen chocolate covered bananas. Definite full on authentic banana aroma. Some light sweetness and banana flavors, a bittersweet chocolate element, with a very smooth, wheaty body. Some light stickiness to the finish. An enjoyable experience that may have been enhanced further by a weizen glass.

I had this one on tap at the FFF Brewpub on 5/2/2009.

A= This beer poured a murky brown color with a lively 3/4" yellow-tan head. The head dropped to a thin cap and maintained all the way down the glass.

S= Lots of bready malt and estery banana in the aroma, as well as a sweet chocolate smell. Alcohol present on the nose too, especially when this beer was swirled in the glass.

T= Just like the smell, this was basically a chocolate covered banana in liquid form. Estery banana and bready malt dominate the front end with milk chocolate and rich yeast following that immediately. Finish was rich and sweet and showed a bit of spicy alcohol.

MF= Medium bodied with a very effervescent carbonation level. Chewy, but nearly crisp on the tongue.

D= Damn drinkable despite the chewy body and alcohol presence. I really liked the interplay of chocolate and banana here.

Might be the same as The Deuce, but since I only had that once, two years ago, I'm not really in a position to judge.

Tulip glass, pours dull muddy brown and foamy, kinda like the bottom of an ice cream soda. Pretty.

Smells strongly of run the mill banana-y wheat malt, but the "dunkel" portion of this dunkelweiss is quite intense. It's milk chocolate, straight up, and it mingles perfectly with the bittersweet banana esters of the wheat.

Tastes very much like it smells. It's really amazing to think that even though D.weisses so obviously feature the interplay between chocolate and banana nodes that this is the first one I've ever seen that focuses on properly accentuating that combination. The chocolate malt is smooth and perfectly sweet--not too burnt or bitter or alcoholic, not fake-tasting.
The wheatmalt is mild so as to not block out any of the chocolate, with light pepper foregrounding explosively sweet banana nodes. Some agressive yeast comes in just as the chocolate is melting away in order to give the beer a sense of firm closure.

Appearance - Dark, think, with a small head to round things off.

Smell - Sweet smell with obviously, bananas. Anytime beer smells like a desert, I'm excited!

Taste - Sweet flavors, great aftertaste. Much like drinking desert. Really cool how they blend and mix so they yeast works out like this.

Mouthfeel - Light and smooth...just the way I like it.

Drinkability - I would say very drinkable if not for the high ABV of 9%. This is the second batch that was available at FFFs. The first batch was much less ABV and came in a larger glass...this batch is much more potent but better, IMO.

Beer poured from tapper into tulip glass. The beer looks like muddy water with rust in it. Cant see through the beer at all. Not very appealing. Had a nice gray to white head.

Smells of bananas, pineapple, bananas, bread and did I mention bananas? Smelled slightly roasty... maybe they roasted the bananas? And it's not banana in the way where you just ate a banana and belched it up kind of bad banana flavor... it's more like wow that smells like a good banana.

Tastes of bananas and bread. Very sweet, great alcohol bite on the back end of this beer.

Has a nice smooth and lighter body feel. Limited to one with the %.

Came to me in a snifter with a generous head. It was almost black, sort of like a watery cup of coffee.

Smelled like overripe bananas, clove and dough. This smells like the perfect dessert.

Tasted of bananas and wheat. It was very rich, almost a dessert unto itself but went great with the chocolate stout cake with Toffee frosting.

It was fairly thick like any respectable dunkelweiss should be.

It was strong but you couldn't really tell. I don't know how many of these I'd drink in a sitting but it was great for a nightcap at the brewery.

On tap during a recent visit to Three Floyds brewpub, 2/7/09. Dark brown in color. About an inch of head sitting atop the beer. Smell is banana, clove, and a very good amount of brown malt. Taste is very good. Don't know how they did the banana flavor, but it's there and not too dominant. Very smooth and easy drinking. Would be great on a nice spring day. Medium to full mouthfeel and very enjoyable. Different and nice.