Anchor Winter Wheat
Anchor Brewing Company

The beer pours out into a Duvel glass a dark brown, almost black, color with a 2" tan head that slowly recedes leaving lots of lacing on the sides of the glass. ( to a thin film over most of the liquid.) Sipping produces legs and small patches of lacing, some of which cling to the sides of the glass and some of which slide back down to the liquid. Towards the end of the beer there is still a spider web of lacing on much fo the glass and a nice ring of foam on the surface of the liquid.

The aromas include touches of spices, dark fruits (e.g., raisins) and roasted malt. But there is no banana showing as one might expect to find in a German wheat beer.

The flavors are much as expected from the nose but also include some other dark fruits and earthy bitterness.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied and has a light crispness from the gentle carbonation. The finish is medium length and all the flavors seem to recede as a group, leaving some gentle dryness in the back of the palate.

Overall this is a well made beer, as we've come to expect from Anchor. I definitely like this beer and I'll be more than happy to have more and am looking forward to seeing it again next year. An important thing for me about this beer is that the whole flavor profile is extremely well integrated and nothing stands out as being more important or more prominent than the rest.

 

Bottled 10/19/15; drank 1/13/16 @ the Yarchives.

Opaque dark brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a big tan head; strong, frothy lace.

Bubblegum, wheat & candle wax notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Bubblegum & red licorice flavors up front; dry wheat & faint black pepper notes on the finish.

A unique, robust, tasty winter sipper.

 

 

The appearance was a nice looking dark brown color with a two finger off white foamy head that quickly dissipated. Foamy speckled lacing graces the glass nicely. The smell, unlike a fair amount of dunkelweizens I’ve had has a lot of roasted bready notes up front. As it warms, there’s a nice sweet banana connotation to it. The taste took the roast with the bread and added a light chocolate to seem to have made it taste like banana/chocolate toast. Cool, I think I like it. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a decent degree of sessionability about it. There’s a nice rolling roasted banana chocolate goodness over my tongue. Overall, for me, I like it.

 

 

 

 

 

12 oz. bottle

Pours dark maroon black with a dense creamy dark tan foam head. Smells like chocolate, caramel, molasses, brown sugar, toasty roasted malts, mild vanilla, dark fruit, citrus, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Tastes like chocolate, caramel, molasses, brown sugar, toasty roasted malts, mild vanilla, dark fruit, citrus, with floral earthy herbal grassy pine. Feels medium bodied, creamy and smooth with moderate low carbonation. Overall a really nice dark wheat ale.

 

 

Pours dark as night with a large, dark tan head. No lace though.
Smell is full of wheat, soy, roasted malt with a slight medicinal/anise note.
Taste is very similar: soy, wheat, toast, anise late. Balance is very good.
Body is pretty light. Confusing. Is is supposed to be light like a wheat or fuller bodied like a winter ale?