Funkel-Weizen
Fair State Brewing Cooperative

Had on tap. Cloudy brown with a tan ring. A sour dunkelweizen huh? Smells of wheat, dulled yet tart cherry, funky yeast, and oak. Taste follow but is more wild than funky, get greta yeast but the german malts are simply earth and balsamic tones here and there, cherry dominates. Feel is so strange, truly have never had anything like it: body is lighter and active, funky feeling despite not as tasting, and tartness is short lived. Points for creativity

 

not sure i have ever seen such a thing before. this is pretty cool, and while i definitely dont think its their tastiest or best executed sour beer, i appreciate this barrel fermented dunkelweizen quite a lot for being an original. the malt notes are pretty classic, that lightly roasty and richer wheat complexion, a little sweet and a little bitter at the same time, with a hearth baked bread vibe. the sourness is a little one dimensional here, light vinegar, and it kind of breaks down some of the structure of the wheat it seems, a little thin for what it is, but the wood on this is cool, neutral sort of oak lending a light tannic complexion and even a little sweetness, mellowing in a needed way. some funk too, brett starting to take hold but definitely secondary to the piquant bacterial sourness. whats missing for me is any real german yeast element. i dont get the banana and clove classic profile to this at all, and so its more of a dark wheat sour than the style it takes its name from, maybe its there a little bit, but its far from a defining feature of it. i wish for more of it for sure, and also more body and bubbles, the feel doesnt match the flavors real well, its a bit light and still for what it seems to be trying to establish. i like the idea a little better than the execution on this one, but still a really neat beer.