Parade-Paardje
VD Bier (Bierbrouwerij Volendam)

Purchased for take-away at the foreign beer bar, Catford Beerfest., 08/06/2006. Coming in a 500ml brown bottle, bottle-conditioned. BB End of 2008, served chilled in a weizen glass.

A: pours a bright, reddish chestnut brown/russet colour, the beige beer head grows slowly but unstoppingly until forming a thick, rocky and tightly frothy hill... carbonation is constantly lively. Looking really impressive...
S: delicious brown-sugary malty theme decorated by a dusty hop and lemony edge; perfumy fruit-esters+faintly banana-ish yeasts+a little coriander spiciness hover in the background; the rather perfumy and fruity aroma shows a good balance and depth, with the malt sweetness balanced by a nice fruity sourness. But overall very mild, if it was a dunkel weizen indeed.
T: a chewy, slightly rough-textured, raw malts' nutty edge and a little sharp-dryish yeast prevail together upfront, softening bit by bit; a residual aromatic fruitiness and brown-sugary nuttiness (like the aftertaste of baked brown sugar-coated chesnut), develop at the back along with a very light-bodied, sour-sweet grainy wheats, but way too mild for a proper dunkel weizen. The aftertaste is quite light, with just a touch of spice and restrained bitter-sweetness in the short finish.
M&D: softly-carbonated on the mouthfeel, pretty smooth to drink; the body is just about right for a dunkel weizen at this gravity, but I can't help feeling a bit let down by the gap b/w the rich nose and much milder flavour, and the lack of a more perfumy-fruity yeasty edge typical of a true weizen. Actually it's at best a cross b/w German dunkel weizen and Belgian dark ale--that said, it's not bad at all. No harm to give it a try. It might find its fans some day.