Plassenburg
Commonwealth Brewing Company

Pours a clear ruby amber, brief tan head that fades to a thin ring, no lacing. Nose is boozy raisins, rum cake, holiday spices, molasses, brown bread. Taste essentially follows but manages to avoid being overly tacky or sweet. Raisin and fruit notes are present, but remain dry. Boozy candy and cake emerges a bit more as it warms, but still remains balanced and not too heavy. Slightly oxidized note as well helps to rein in the sugar. This lacks the depth of some top tier eisbocks, but it does avoid the pitfalls of other offerings that can be a sweet, turgid mess. Mouthfeel is surprisingly light with crisp carbonation. Overall, this was a very pleasant surprise and one worth seeking out.

 

 

Single can from Half Time
Pours a dark brown color with a dense thick head.
Not as boozy as expected, drinks quite easy.
Malty sweetness with notes of caramel.
Very enjoyable!

 

Clear, if you set up lights to penetrate the fairly dark, tawny brown . The head forms a brief covering over this before sticking it out as a medium ring. The initial sniffs I made yielded a surprising (to me for some reason) earthy aspect to it, almost like some altbiers I've had. A little earthy spice started to come in before too long, and even something of a "nosefeel" of alcohol. Rounding out the nose was some fruit notes - a light mix of fig and dark cherry I think.

The beer has a thicker feel, which was expected, but has a bit of a sticky feel that again, for some reason, I wasn't really expecting, The malt notes are up front with a medium toasted spiced raisin bread with some dark honey, or even a spiced breakfast bread. The alcohol feel comes in to add a hint of a bourbon-soaked aspect to this bread.

It's not too sweet, thanks in part to that earthy note coming over from the nose. Another lightening aspect is a mouthfeel tingle (presumably alcohol coming through) that rides on my tongue as the beer washes away. So to rephrase, there are sweet (dark fruit, dark sugar) notes , but they seem to get pushed aside or lifted by the things mentioned.

I waffled going a tad higher on this, but something in the mouthfeel started to drag on me. It didn't seem as smooth as I expected, for reasons other than what would come from the increased alcohol.