Weizenbock
Brauerei Fahr

473ml can poured into tulip.

Pours a dark caramel brown with half a finger of khaki head that leaves droopy sheets of lace as it recedes.

Smells of raisin squares, candied figs, banana pudding, toasted caramel malt, chocolate milk, some clove and nutmeg spice notes, new leather jacket and faint weedy hops.

Tastes of more raisin and fig baked goods, brown sugar, mushy bananas, drizzled caramel, sweet chocolate, muddled leather and spice, iced coffee and forest floor hops.

Feels thick and full. Full bodied with soft carbonation. Finishes chewy.

Verdict: Highly recommended. A good solid cold weather warmer for the first decent snow of the year.

 

Fahr Weizenbock is greatest high-test ale in the world. Hints of banana, smoke, nuts, caramel make it the finest tasting beer of everything I have tried.

2022 version, the ABV on the can is now 6.5%.

Pours beautifully, with an enormous frothy off-white head. Beer itself appears nearly opaque until held up to light: a very warm ruby/deep copper hue. Beer looks amazing.

Aroma is also on the mark! Raisins and figs up front, a bit of phenolic booziness, caramel, cloves and banana, milk chocolate, and a plethora of other dark fruits, along with a nice spicy yeastiness. Fantastic.

Really great mouthfeel, soft and effervescent on the tongue. Perfect level of carbonation I think. Tasty stuff: lots of raisins and figs and chocolate again, a little banana, cloves and some wonderful yeast funk. Could do with a little more "bite" somehow--perhaps a tad more alcohol warmth. Otherwise, a really flavourful weizenbock.

Fantastic beer.

Fahr Weizenbock is a dark, leathery brown ale. The head is rocky, cream colored, and has decent enough retention.
At first blush, it definitely smells like a weizenbock even if the aromas aren't outright leaping forth from my glass. The first thing I notice is a combination of malt and fruit esters. Malt gives me toasted rye bread, fresh damp earth, and hints of leather. Fruit esters are banana and what could be dates. Generic sweetness provides a not totally inappropriate through note before leading into a finish that just fades into the distance.
On the tongue, Fahr Weizenbock is medium bodied, well rounded, and slightly more flavorful than the beer's nose lead me to expect. Leather is more dominant here than it was in the nose, leading into flavors of toasted dark bread. This is followed by flavors of banana coupled with damp earth and what I think tastes a little like ripe plums. Dark sugar lead into a finish that is slightly dry.
Fahr Weizenbock is a fair representation of this style of beer. Does it have the depth and overall complexity of beers like Schneider Aventinus? No, no it doesn't. However, that being said it does look, smell, and taste like a weizenbock should and for me, that's the important thing. Call this a very competent, accessible, introductory version of the style and call it a day.

473ml can - this is a collaboration with Edmonton's Analog Brewing.

This beer pours a hazy, medium bronzed amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat bubbly ecru head, which leaves some decent pitted limestone wall lace around the glass as it evenly bleeds away.

It smells of overripe bananas, bready and doughy caramel malt, some musty yeastiness, indistinct earthy spice, and very tame leafy, herbal, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy cereal malt, banana cream pie, some black peppercorn/clove spice notes, fading estery yeast, and more well-understated earthy, musty, and dead floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly meek in its bored-seeming frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, with a wee airy creaminess arising as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes on the sweet side, with the mushy banana essence solidifying its lingering hold.

Overall - yeah, I'm not really grokking this one. It seems a bit too simple, i.e. more Analog than Fahr, if ya know what I mean. It works well enough as an ADM (alcohol delivery mechanism), I suppose, but I don't think that I could stomach more than one of these.