Weiss
Otaru Beer

 

 

This weiss beer by Johannes Braun is still served on tap at Bikkuri Donkey locations throughout Japan. It goes extremely well with hamburgers and steaks (as are served at the restaurant). A nice weiss beer yet a bit abrasive on the nostrils upon smelling in a way that I don't normally expect from a weiss. However, the taste and appearance are spot-on, delivering a delicious and drinkable brew without sparing on the flavor. It is not the best weiss I have ever had (and the restaurant charges a bit for it), but if you are at Bikkuri Donkey in Japan and you are looking for a beer, I would recommend this over most of the major breweries in Japan.

A very long lasting dense and creamy head on a hazy glittering orange yellow color body that's quite active. The smell is very wheaty and yeasty; the banana aroma is very dry. The taste is of dry banana, not overly sweet. The hoppiness is more pronounced than in other weissen. Very dry wheat, iodated citrus, and maybe some hints of stawberry. The mouthfeel may be a little weak, but it's silky and quite enjoyable. The limited sweetness makes this beer very drinkable.

This beer has great fine, twinkly bubbles morphing out of the top of the glass. The beer itself is a quite dark orangey gold color, which lends an impression of rich things to come. The smell, too, is not thin, with notes of sweet, roasted corn, or banana.

The taste is not as smooth as other weizens I've had, by which I want to mean not as light. It has a heavy and rich, slightly bananaish taste, with extremely low carbonation and nothing after the initial taste. With such a rich taste in the mouth, I would expect an aftertaste of alcohol--but it never comes. Interesting beer.

Long lasting white, health head, opaque orange-yellow body.
Ester(?) aroma jumps from the glass, but nothing showy.
Tastes like it has a decent amount of hops and malts. Fruity, but not sweet. Balanced.
Mouthfeel is lovely. This was a fantastic and complicated beer.