Dampfbier
Occidental Brewing Co.

Purchased at John's Marketplace. Poured into a nonic half pint. No canning date, but the brewery released these cans on February 26.

Look:
The beer is a light straw-gold color, brilliantly clear and topped with a head of bright white foam that dissipates quickly and leaves no lacing.

Smell:
Clean bready malt, slightly sweet, with undertones of banana bread and light floral hop notes.

Taste:
Dampfbier leads with a good soft maltiness, clean and slightly doughy and mildly sweet. The malt provides a solid foundation for the spicy phenolics promised by the nose: notes of ripe bananas and spicy cloves. The subtle sweetness of the underlying malt really makes these flavors pop. The beer ends with a hit of floral hops and a lingering, understated bitterness. The malty aftertaste with hints of banana bread is delicious.

Feel:
The body is light yet creamy. The carbonation is soft and finely textured. Very nice.

Overall:
Dampfbier is another well-made lager from the talented folks at Occidental. The spicy phenolics from their house weizen yeast and warm fermentation add interest without overwhelming the light pilsner malt base. I hope this isn't just a one-off. I'd be happy to quaff this on a warm summer afternoon midway through a long bike ride. Recommended.

A great example of a not-real style that should be one (this whole "hefeweizen yeast used in a 100% barley malt beer" is likely 100% made-up and perpetuated in a telephone-ring type game. See: https://dafteejit.com/2020/11/about-dampfbier/ and http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2008/04/bayerischer-wald-arse-end-of-nowhere-is.html). Can from johnniehops, many thanks!
Pours a white foam that fades in average time to a thin ring around the perimeter of the glass. Lacing is modest, a few dots cling to the walls of the glass. Body is a very pale yellow color, with light bringing out even lighter yellow hues. Transparent
Aroma of pleasant, mild banana ester, a touch of apple cider, slight phenolic snap/twang, all mixed atop a bit of pale ale or pilsner malt sweetness/character.
Flavor of a balanced assortment of banana ester, phenolic snap/twang with a hint of clove, and light pale malt sweetness. Front: pale ale/pilsner malt sweetness, light banana ester, a hint of phenolic sharpness/twang, hints of a creamy vanilla flavor. Mid: sweetness from pale malt balanced with banana ester and phenolic snap/twang, hints of creamy vanilla as the beer warms. Back: phenolic sharpness/twang comes to forefront, but closely followed by sweetness and banana ester with a touch of vanilla in the background. After: lingering slightly toasted breadiness with some sweeteness and much lighter banana ester and phenolic sharpness.
Beer is light to medium-light in body, with carbonation of medium-high intensity (2.4-2.5 vol CO2), resulting in a mostly foamy mouthfeel (large bubbles). Closes very dry, with light stickiness on lips and palate.

(C, B/B+, B/B+, A-, B/B+)

16oz can from Brewers Haven. Clear golden, fine carbonation, white fizzy head. Sweet malty aroma, really inviting. Taste is bready, biscuity, malty, mildly sweet, hint of lemon and a tiny hoppy finish. This is damn good and great on a hot day.

another cool style american brewers do not tackle often enough, and another killer traditional styled beer from occidental, who i have come to respect about as well as anyone, this is what they do best, and its always rad to try new flavors from them, they positively are crushing it! this is light in color but big in flavor, looks like a pale lager, yellow and clear with an average white head on it, somewhat unremarkable visually, but well refined. the aroma and flavor are the same, a well developed yeast profile thats very much european to me, lager-esque, but a little estery too, subtle pear and white wine and tea mesh with grassy hops on the back end, and there is a high minerality coming through. the malt seems simple, pils based, but has a touch of sweetness and biscuit through most of it, even a splash of honey, but this ends quite dry. there is a breadiness about it overall, an almost nutritive aspect for a beer so drinkable, earthy and wet, some similarities here with their kolsch, but this goes a little deeper. really an excellent beer overall, a year round drinker as far as i am concerned, but a cool beer for high spring. well carbonated and refreshing, but really flavorful too, european but distinctive at the same time. i hope to be able to visit the brewery this summer!

No date on the can, Been quite a while since we've seen one of these. Pours a clear amber, vanishing head, light aroma of beer yeast. Taste is malty, with mild bitterness and some sweetness right off. Give it another sip and then it's otherwise a little like a Hefe with the spice notes. Pleasant mouthfeel, no flaws. It's worth trying but don't drive vast distances.

Can from Uptown Market.

A crystal clear straw yellow with a dense white head with good retention and lacing, this looks solid. The nose has a lot of weizen yeast character with clove and banana, fresh and fragrant along with a soft, doughy pils malt base. Hops are minimal here. Light floral notes. The palate opens fruity with fresh baked banana bread , zippy clove and rather paradoxically, I am also imagining toasted walnuts in here - the flavor isn't present when you pay attention, but the weizen yeast character just evokes the flavor through it's banana bread notes. The pils malt rich base lends a unique flavor profile, a blend of light dough and straw. A hair on the sweeter side, but again, it works with the yeast profile. Lingering clove on the finish along with a little sweetness, this beer is medium light in body and softly carbonated. Lovely stuff. To my palate, texturally, at least, this is the beer in between a hefeweizen and a kristallweizen.