Primus Weizenbock
Live Oak Brewing Company

Dark brown, murky, not much head or lacing.
Smells like a Hefeweizen but richer, with a brown bread quality.
The taste is similar to the smell. I’ve had many German imports of this style and I’m very tempted to say this is better. The abv is completely hidden and the flavors compliment each other perfectly, without one sticking out. Remarkable.

On tap:
Mostly clear medium brown, near no head in this pour. Nose of breakfast toast and bread alongside each other - with some banana esters, but not banana bread-like. Smooth with medium-plus stickiness that feel less hefty than the sweet side might portray. It is not too sweet, but more the lack of bitterness gives the malt free range. There is a tinge of spice in the finish to ash away most of the light malt sugars that remain.

 

Enjoyed from a glass while sitting under a live oak tree at the brewery with a fine blues band playing.

This one is enjoyable, reminds me of a thicker version of Aventinus, very cloudy.

I'm picking up cloves, raisins, and maybe some Irish soda bread.

Primus is primo. I recommend it.

 

 

Primus has a thin, beige head and an opaque, murk brown, with beige yeast chunks and no lacing. The aroma is of spiced brown wheat bread and possible banana. There might be bubble gum, too. It has a similar flavor with some sweetness and almost no bitterness. Primus has a high-medium body and a dry finish.

RJT

 

The beer pours a creamy and foamy white head. The beer itself is a nice wooden brown color.

The smell is delicious. It has a strong banana note upfront and various spices such as a clove and followed by a nice toffee note and light caramel.

The taste is good. It has the same banana note as the smell but it isn't as strong as it is in the smell. The toffee note is a bit stronger but so is the alcohol note and it kind of takes over everything else.

The feel is good. It has a smooth and heavy body texture with a bit of thickness to it. It has a slight alcohol burn to it.

Overall, this is a pretty good Weizenbock worth getting. It's heavy but it's a good choice for cold weather.

 

 

 

PKG: 11.07.23. Poured into a weizen glass.

A: Dark chestnut brown with 1-finger light beige head with decent retention and a solid line of lacing.

S: Aroma is heavenly with medium and light caramels, banana, breadiness, and light nuttiness with a hearty dose of clove spice

T: The flavor is very good with all the elements of a great weizenbock including dark bread, medium caramel, banana, chocolate, and clove, but the clove is turned up a bit too much for my taste. Clean.

M: Smooth a crisp despite the steep ABV.

O: An elite weizenbock but I wish the clove was decreased by about 50%.

Picked up a six pack of 12oz cans with a canning date of 10/11/23.

Pours burnt golden brown in color with a finger thick brown head atop with an aggressive pour. Retention is decent, though it eventually settles to spotty lacing on the top of the beer and the sides of the glass as you drink. Carbonation looks average, maybe slightly zesty. Typical look for the style, though it could use a fluffier head.

Aroma is very strongly ripe banana with cloves, wheat, butter, bubble gum and chocolate in the background. There is a bit of nail polish going on. Never been a huge fan of overripe banana smell, but it's to be expected here.

Taste is very much of the same. Chocolate banana, cloves, wheat, yeast, muted caramelized butter and toffee and some hop spice. It's very smooth, you can almost feel all the individual flavors coming in succession. Aftertaste is banana and wheat mixed with an herbal bitterness.

This is barely medium bodied. I found the carbonation to be a bit too lively and the body to be a bit thin. It does drink very smooth and clean otherwise. You'd never guess this was an 8% ABV beer.

It's honestly been too long since I've had another beer in this style to compare it to. I'm not a huge fan of wheat beers in general and this one is no exception. I do appreciate the complexity here and I'm curious to dive back into a Vitus or Aventinus and see how it compares. I prefer to rate beers by style instead of my own subjective taste, so I think that's reflected in my rating. I will come back and update after sampling more in this style. This is quality stuff, but I probably wouldn't seek it out again. Prost!

 

I didn't even know they made this beer. I see it is ranked #3 per style. My vote = #1. This is the best I've ever had in style.

Pours a dark pour. Looks menacing. Dark brown with a tan head 3/4" deep, great retention. Damn fine looker. The aroma hits those nice banana, wheat, clove notes, but all wrapped inside a light little chocolate malt blanket. Not roasty.

The taste is quite pleasant. There is no alcohol sting or bitter bite anywhere in the mouth feel. Just a light coverage consisting of chocolate bananas. Its funny how there is that black barleywine like vibe to it, there is caramel and toffee all over it, but with that chocolate sensation going for it. But it doesn't boast double digit abv or a triple digit ibu level. Heck, I'm not even sure it has double digit ibus its so smooth. A lot of the commercial tug job and reviews talk "roasty" but this is a light browning, not roasting. Oh I should mention the hit of vanilla really smooves it all out. Let Smoov C do his thing.

Anyways, world class stuff in a style I never thought I could give a score so high to.

 

 

From a can. Dark brown color with a thin layer of light brown head. Roasted malt smell. Medium body. Rich roasted malt flavors with a strong clove flavor. Very nice!