Brünette
Village Brewery

 

Had on tap at National, served in a shaker pint. Looks beautiful--small but persistent head, dark cola colour. But while it's an enjoyable beer (sweet, malty, toasty, wheaty, just a touch of a pleasant--even if off-style--sourness), it doesn't really have some of the hallmarks I like from a dunkel: not a tremendous amount of clove or banana. It drinks almost more like a dark saison, or a brown ale with a helping of wheat to round out the malt bill.

330 ml bottle poured into a tulip. A very dark blackish brown with a finger or so of creamy soft-looking light tan head. Aroma is an inviting blend of dried banana, clove and coriander, raisin, and toffee-laced brown bread. Smells legit.

Taste is similarly impressive, particularly with regards to the malting. A chocolate cake flavor to complement surprisingly bright banana notes. The clove element is (probably deliberately) very subdued, perhaps largely supplanted by a dry pepper and grass seasoning that would not be out of place in a German lager. Gets toasty and more grainy as one proceeds through a bottle. I'd say the body is a hefty medium, just grading into thick, with a similar level of carbonation. Am noticing that the aroma develops very nicely as the beer warms, leaving the flavor behind to an extent. Molasses and shredded wheat notes emerge in the finish, which is rather dry.

This might be the first time I do not feel like slagging Village for being overly safe and perhaps a tad dull. Sure, they avoided too much of the polarizing clove-suggestive phenols, but this brewery is hardly alone in that regard. By and large, this is a robust take on the style.

I was thrilled to try a pint of this seasonal during my trip to Calgary. It pours a cloudy amber-brown, with a finger of foam that lingers. The nose is clove and banana, which also pops up in the flavor. There is a wonderful chocolatey malt backbone to This offering, without being overly sweet. This is a quality Dunkel - definitely worth a repeat visit!

 

330ml bottle, part of the Village Square mixed-pack suddenly made available in Edmonton this past week, with no body label, a la Sleemans (way to shoot for the stars, there, guys), instead relying on the neck to parlay the pertinent info.

This beer pours a very dark, muddled rusty brown brick amber hue, with three fat fingers of puffy, densely foamy, and somewhat creamy tan head, which leaves some sparsely layered cloud form lace around the glass as it slowly and evenly subsides.

It smells of bready, lightly toasted caramel malt, white saltine crackers, understated yeast, banana chips, subtle clove/coriander spice notes, and a peppy, slightly spicy old-school hoppiness. The taste is semi-sweet, bready caramel malt, softly roasted biscuits, more bland dried banana fruity notes, a well-lessened clove and white pepper spiciness, a hint of leafy, earthy noble hops, and an ethereal sense of the alcohol that wants very much to be a real boy.

The carbonation is fairly low-key, barely a downtrodden frothiness available to the yearning masses, the body medium-light in weight, and more or less smooth, only a minor hard water flintiness proving to be the fly in the ointment, as it were. It finishes on a strong drying trend, the grainy, still toasted malt not going anywhere, nor are the yeast and subdued banana essences.

A generally well-rendered version of the style, the malty, fruity, and yeasty characters fairly bang-on. Tasty, and invigorating, especially since the idea of my 'missing out' on procuring a 2L growler whilst spending Christmas last month with my family in Cowtown is duly obviated by grabbing an inexpensive as shit single of this up here.

 

 

Village's latest seasonal.

Appearance - Pours a dark chestnut brown with two fingers of foamy tan head.

Smell - Banana, clove, German yeast, spicy hops, bready caramel malts.

Taste - Light flavour of banana, clove and German yeast. Flavour of the bready caramel malts and spicy hops are present, but as a complement to the yeast flavour.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Dry finish with the lingering flavour of yeast.

Overall - An easy-to-drink dunkel from Village. I'd like to have a little more flavour of banana and clove, but that's just a minor detail. Very well crafted malt flavour that complements the banana/clove combo.