It's A Jailbreak
Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company

Acid Reflux Flavors Abound

A: Caramel-cola pour has a dull white, spongy head, one and a half inches. A strong dense carbonation makes the unfiltered nature within dance about. Average rate of head retention, softly decomposing to a polished surface.

S: Its all about the chocolate-banana pudding here. Decent show of strength.

T: A bit of fizzy chocolate-banana pudding. Soft sweetness, some golden raisins. Like the the nose, the flavor is hard to deny.

M: Fizzy and lively mouthful, soft and creamy texture, medium body and a very good feel and weight per style.

O: Overall a sweet dessert style beer, its all about the chocolate-banana creme pudding which compliments the style with a pie like flair. Drinkability is limited due to its nature but hey, if your a fan of the style, it brings a big burst of flavor.

A trip to Pennsylvania resulted in this purchase. The can art grabbed me and the taste profile on the can made me want to give it a try. I was not let down.

Appearance: Served from a pint can. Poured a murky dark brown color, about a minute of head retention then lacing.

Aroma/Smell: Slight clove hits first followed by lingering green banana character. Resiny and fruity is the name of the game here.

Taste: Tastes as it smells with green banana dominating. A few moments on the palette and I detect a hint of cocoa nibs and tart Granny Smith apple. Chocolate malt finishes this Dunkel. Balanced enough to taste good together but complex enough to mete out these flavors individually. They tend to complement each other well.

Feel: Carbonation about spot on for the style, Mouthfeel was underwhelmingly thin – not creamy or full-bodied.

Overall: The drinking experience was interesting and the green banana tasted sweeter after the final sip - like a freckled banana a day before it would be used for banana bread. I would’ve hoped for a creamier mouthfeel but the overall flavor experience made it a worthwhile beer.

Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co. "It's A Jailbreak"
1 Pint can without production codes or freshness dating

Notes via stream of consciousness: First the back-story for those who aren't familiar. The character of banana man appeared on the label of an earlier wheat beer (Highwater) but the label was turned down by the government because it might imply to the consumer that there were actual bananas in the beer. Fast forward to the production of this beer and the collaboration between Proximity malt with their new chocolate wheat malt, and a dunkle weizen made with real bananas and cocao nibs seemed to be the answer. Banana Man is now free! Ha ha! OK, so I've had this beer on tap before so this won't exactly be a 'stream of consciousness' review but I'll try my best. It's a cloudy (muddy?) dark brown in color beneath a short head of sand colored foam. The aroma is loaded with green banana, but there's also some milk chocolate which I assume is coming from the cocoa nibs and not the malt. There's a touch of yeasty spiciness and plastic-like phenol (in a good way) as well. On to the flavor, you guessed it - it's loaded with green banana! I'm finding apple and chocolate as well, so it's not alone. It's lightly sweet but there's a little bit of tartness to it as well. I THINK that I'm finding some of the chocolate wheat malt in it but at the same time I'm not sure because the cocoa nibs are clearly there as well. There's a bit of a floral aspect to it but I'm not sure if that's from hops or from the bananas and the yeast, but if I had to bet I'd go for the latter. I'd say it's generally well-balanced although that acidic note is slightly distracting. I've found that in weizens before though so I won't ding it. In the mouth it's medium bodied and crisp, but not nearly as effervescent as most dunkleweizens, although they are usually less carbonated that their standard hefeweizen brethren. That then doesn't help with the head retention and lacing, although I recall the two that I had on tap having much better head retention and lacing than what's in front of me now, so I'll have to give it a bit of a pass on that note as well. Finally, we get to the "overall" part of the score and this is just one of those beers that has a little bit of magic to it. It's probably also a bit of a love it or hate it beer, but oh well, c'est la vie - I personally love it.
Review #6,778