Chocolate Weisse
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

 

Picked up a growler on 9/17/11.

A-Pours a cedary dark brown, ruby highlights at the bottom of the glass. Thin foamy off white head.

S-Banana esters, grainy wheat and a hint of chocolate.

T-Very much like a chocolate covered banana. Banana yeast notes, grainy malt and good rich bittersweet chocolate. Tasty.

M-Light bodied, ephemeral.

O-Very tasty. The chocolate works really well with the yeast notes.

HV

On tap @ Iron Hill West Chester on 8/5/11. Served in a 10 oz goblet.

Pours a black/deep brown in the glass (pretty dark at any rate), with a ½ finger head of eggshell-white foam. This retains with some frothy bunching around the edges and thinner wisps across the center of the surface, leaving back a decent amount of spotty looking creamy lace down the sides of the glass. The aroma smells of spice and banana up front, which in layered on top of the sweetness of the chocolate and then the crisp tanginess of the wheat in the back. There is just a bit of a light floral feel on the edges of the nose as well.

The taste has that crisp twangy bite of wheat up front, which is balanced by the sweetness of the chocolate malts. Yeasty banana flavor is here as well, as is a good amount of spicy clove, which mingles with the hops that are present to really contribute a certain amount of dryness to the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with an overall prickly feel to the carbonation that really helps accentuate that twang of the wheat. Alcohol has a low presence here, combining with the carbonation to really keep this quite crisp and drinkable on the palate.

This was a really solid take on a Dunkel Weisse, with the notes of fruit, spice, wheat, and chocolate all working together nicely here and combined with that crisp body to really make this a flavorful and easy drinking affair. Hops seemed a touch high for the style but that could have just been the freshness of this shining through on tap. This was good.