Weissenoher Bonifatius Dunkel
Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe

 

Picked up a half liter bottle dated best by 15.08.24 at a getrankemarkt in northern Bavaria. Grabbed a few random Dunkels as it's one of my go-to styles recently. Looks the part. Aromas and flavors are heavy on the sweet, roasted, slightly charred malt. Spot-on for the style. A delicious, rich, earthy, roasty, nutty dark lager.

 

Reddish brown, cream colored foam, beautiful and solid. Mahogany / ruby edges.
Malty, classic smell, for a dunkel. Light caramel. A bit raw, grainy.
Light red fruit notes, plums, blackberry. Rhubarb candy.
Relatively full taste, malt, caramel, biscuit.
Average body. Light rhubarb in the aftertaste too.

From Pils to Dunkel, like cradle to the grave we traipse onto another brew. Another day another brew, inexorably trekking onwards, ever closer to the sweet release of death... just kidding, I love drinking and reviewing beers! [FML...IA! - F**k My Life... IS AWESOME!] Still I’m going to have to take a self-imposed sabbatical soon, yet I’m so close to that constant looming 1,000 beer reviews... what does this have to do with this Weißenoher Klosterbrauerei Bonifatius Dunkel? Nothing really, can’t a man philosophise every once and a while? Seriously though I do enjoy a good Dunkel, I’ve reviewed like 5 of them... I guess out of 944 beers that makes me “not a fan” of the style, which is a shame because I definitely enjoy Dunkels more than mass-produced macro crap and I’ve definitely reviewed more than 5 macro Lagers.

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a stein.

A: Deep, clear caramel/rust coloured body with a sizable beige head that takes its sweet time to dissolve [there’s a pun in there somewhere]. She looks better than the Pils by virtue of simply being a darker brew, pretty harsh bias, however the Pils did look too yellow and clear and ironically (for a klosterbrau) mass-produced. 7/10.

S: Rum-raisin character all over this aroma! [I actually hate rum-raisin... yep] Dark fruits aplenty with this Dunkel, more so than the other 5 Dunkels I tried... I think... it’s been a while for me in the saddle. Toffee and bread notes as well in the aroma, though there is no getting past old mate rum-raisin, he’s a pushy one he is. 6/10.

T: Thankfully the flavour isn’t rum-raisin but more Werther’s Original toffee... dipped in butter. The Diacetyl in this brew is pretty off-the-charts, lucky I don’t mind Diacetyl (when it plays well with the other flavours). Rounding out the flavours are a slight nutty character, maybe pecan, with a herbal leafy tobacco note in the finish. Sweet? Dry? Bitter? It’s a bit of all of those. Surprisingly good balance. Uh oh! Metallic twang in the after taste, my filings are excited now. 7/10.

M: Mid to light, almost medium bodied, with a fairly dense/creamy carbonation, some balance has been restored after the disappointment of Eucharius Pils. 7/10.

D: Damn metallic taste detracting from the rest of the brew! Otherwise I would be all over this like Sundays (and sundaes, which I am also all over). I get an impression from Weißenoher Klosterbrauerei so far as a rather hodge-podge kind of monastery that is into brewing for the fun of it and cuts corners a little to let the old monks have a go at brewing and isn’t fussed about the end product. 6/10.

Food match: Sundaes, which I am all over: “get your Dunkel sundae here!”.

 

High C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE

 

 

Pours a filtered hazelnut brown color, with a huge, spongy head, from which big bubbles emerge.

Smells of whole grain bread, with a toasty note to it, topped of by copper and wood bark. The nose got a restraint toffee sweetness to it, complimenting the rich dark malts perfectly.

Has a very soft mouthfeel with medium carbonation, revealing a bubbly quality during the finish.

Tastes mirrors the nose to a certain degree, the profound malts draw most of the attention, with a mild acidity adding to its depth. Its pleasant sour note evolves to a toffee peak during the finish, evoking the image of caramelized grapes being dipped into bakers chocolate. A leafy quality, as well as a mineralic carbonation diversify this impression, while the beer remains expectedly well balanced as expected.

Well made Dunkel, which got a nice twist to it, while integrating a pleasant depth.

-sweet malt,plums,raisins,dates,Syrup flavour
-licorish
-well carbonated
-sweet,watery,bready finish

Good Dunkel,the weltenburger blows the shit out of it though

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

A- glowing amber with a thin tan head. There is a slow moving stream of small bubbles.

S- freshly milled barley, caramel, and hint of fresh grassy hops.

T- caramel and biscuit malts, faintly bitter hops. Surprisingly long finish filled with more biscuit malt.

M- light bodied, light carbonation. Watery finish.

O- enjoyable.

A reddish brown beer with a settling head.

The smell is full of currants, raisins, plums and dates, melanoidines. The beer smells very malty and intens. No hops to be smelled.

The taste is sweet and malty with the melanoidines very present. The beer is not overly sweet and syrupy when I have some sips. The beer is totally not bitter and the aftertaste is quite short. The 5% alcohol is low for the style.

After painstakingly searching the Internet for an answer, I finally found out that this is released as "Weissenohe Monk's Christkindl Dark Lager" during the holidays either as an exclusive recipe for distribution in the US only, OR only distributed in the US under this name. Either way, it's definitely approaching Spring and getting a bit old for Winter Warmers, but I gave this a go anyways. Poured into a pilsner glass out of a 500ml bottle. No freshness date.

Pours an amberish, browned clear tone with a decent amount of carbonation around the glass and a modest 2 finger head that fizzles down into nothing in about 15 minutes. Definitely a sure sign that this beer is already getting past its prime. Carbonation is nice at first, but ceases to exist altogether. No lacing or stickiness to speak of here, but surprisingly holds a solid semi-thick appearance overall. I've definitely seen better beers in the Helles Bock/Dunkel/Märzen styles, however.

Has an off, caramel-like, biscuit aroma right up front, combined with lots of toffee notes, honey soaked malty character, and a little bit of zest. Not too much spiciness or as lively as expected, but the malts hold the fort relatively well. It's lightly tinged, and there's a slight pleasing astringency while it's cold. As it warms up, however, it becomes progressively caramelized in nature and becomes grating, nearly to the point of throwing off the yeasty, bready characters that these kinds of beers are known for.

The flavor, on the other hand, is pretty pleasing and mellow overall, with a slight honey, spiced zest at the front and a smoothened out, candied toasted barley finish. The biscuit-y character is most predominant here, but the overarching taste resembling dried tangerines and caramel bread is very delightful at first. However, as this warms up, it really does take a nosedive like nothing else. The bready notes become over-sweetened and muted, and the body truly suffers overall, often turning into a syrupy, thinned, undercarbonated experience.

This is rather refreshing at first, but people buying this by now should make sure they drink it before it gets warm too fast. I had higher hopes for this, but I believe these should be taken off the shelves at this point as it hasn't held up very well since it was brewed. If you must have, do pair it with hearty food - I did so with steak, bread, and peppery greens. Otherwise, steer away. There are plenty of other stylized beers like this available year-round and brewed domestically that are far better.