Mönchsambacher Weizenbock
Zehendner Brauerei

From the bottle, it pours a hazy amber color with a modest, for a weizenbier, off-white head. Classic scents of a weizen invade the nose: bready malt, banana and clove. Taste follows the nose, with a nice smooth feel in the mouth, with a light tartness at the end.

Pours a rather cloudy, almost hazy, dark golden coloration with a large, frothy head. Smells of doughy, slightly grainy malt, some yeast esters of banana and clove and grassy, herbal hops. Taste is an excellent balance of doughy, slightly grainy malt, and equally strong yeast esters of banana and clove, with the clove standing out more, and grassy, herbal hops, with a certain citrus zest and perhaps a hint of gooseberry also coming through here. Finishes with a light tanginess and bitterness, as well as some grassy hops, clove and citrus zest lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

This is quite a hoppy Weizenbock for a traditional example of the style, but while I can't decipher their best by date exactly, I do suspect that I'm drinking this very, very fresh indeed. While this may be a bit hoppier than you might expect from the style, there's still just a fantastic balance of doughy malt, spicy yeast esters and grassy, citrus hops going on here, although the hoppy notes might even slightly edge out the esters. This also has got quite of a bit of a zesty, tangy quality to it that lends it a rather refreshing character and I suspect that this stems from a combination of both citrus hops and a somewhat lightly tart yeast presence, while I'm also getting a certain gooseberry presence which makes me wonder if there's some Hallertau Blanc involved here or whether that i spurely due to having had a Weizen dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin just before.

At Cafe Abseits on 24SEP11. After a great meal of cordon bleu I opted for dessert in the form of a 0.5l bottle of this weizenbock, for €2.60.

Poured into a weißbier glass, it was cloudy, mostly golden bordering on orange, with a rocky, lasting white head, which left nice lacework. Some clove and banana were detected in the aroma, while the body was medium, along with a light, airy feel going down.

Solid banana hit the palate, with a bit of clove tagging along, both components being much more pronounced than a regular weizen. A touch fruity at the finish, which was a tad on the dry side. A nice finish to an enjoyable Abseits evening. Zum Wohl!!

4 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

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