My Turn #025: Kristin
Lakefront Brewery

 

This beer tasted much better after two months after purchase...I strongly recommend waiting to drink this one.
This beer tasted much better after two months after purchase...I strongly recommend waiting to drink this one.
This beer tasted much better after two months after purchase...I strongly recommend waiting to drink this one.

 

Pours a clear, amber/red/burnt orange colour. Smells like ham/bacon, smokey, clean, but not much else. Tastes slightly sweet, maple syrup, ham, bacon, sweet, yet crisp, and clean. Very balanced and not overly anything.

12oz bottle, best by 06 JUN 18. Rusty colored ale with surprising clarity and a thinner tan head. Smoked malt and earthy hops for aroma along with some indistinguishable sweetness in the form of brown sugar, caramel, and/or maple. Heavy smoked malt overpowers the flavor; in the background are caramel, maple, earthy & spicy noble hops, brown sugar, toasty grain, and wheat. Full body, low carbonation, finishing like a maple soaked smoked sausage. Overall, quite a disappointment. I get the idea, but it just didn't pan out in my opinion.

Looked far too clear to be a weizenbock, nice little cap of white foam lasted a short while. But then the smell. Not banana, clove, bubblegum. No, it smells like a campfire, liquid smoke, and burned bacon. Guess what the taste and the smell were the same. Like licking the ashes of burned meat. Can't judge the mouthfeel because the smoke flavor was overwhelming. Horrible horrible beer. Not a weizenbock in any way, this is a rauchbier, and a poor made one at that. Lakefront is going to have a hell of a time getting this beer out of their equipment.

 

 

 

The smoky smell/taste of this beer made me feel queasy and I could only take one sip.

12oz bottle, served in a snifter glass. Pours a light copper body, one finger white head, good retention, thin collar, not much lacing. Smell is a heavy smoke, slight maple sweetness, mineral, touch of banana, spice, wheat. It has a bit of licorice as well. Flavour is astringent licorice, hefty smoke, touch of maple, toffee and light caramel and wheat. Not so much the banana or spices. Bitter, smoky finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, good carbonation, moderately bitter and astringent finish mostly consisting of smoke and a touch of earth. Overall, not in my wheelhouse, and while I enjoy more mildly smoked beers, this had a fairly moderate-heavy smoke presence to it that kept it interesting but does keep me from drinking this at any reasonable pace.

Brewery notes: 8.2 ABV, As Lakefront’s Executive Chef, Kristin knows a thing or two about flavor combinations. So, when her My Turn arrived, she made it her mission to bottle up something that tastes like her favorite meal: breakfast. Pale wheat and caramelly Munich malts call to mind golden-brown waffles, a dash of smoked malt to suggest a side of bacon, and a generous drizzle of real maple syrup to drive the analogy home. Mission accomplished, Kristin!

Had this on Tap at MKE Burger Wausau. Taste starts out with smoke, about half way threw you get a little maple, Maybe small amounts of bacon with micro amount of caramel and banana. Finish goes back to moderate smoke. Plenty of smoke, but not a hardcore smoke bomb. A good beer but not for everyone. My biggest negative is there isn't much Maple flavor.

Update 2/10/18 I had this beer again on tap. It seem to be less smokey and had more bacon flavor the second time.

Intrigued by this beer for two reasons: Kristin is my wife's name and Smoked Maple Weizenbock just sounds too good not to try. Let's see how things taste.

Pours to an reddish amber appearance with a fast breaking one finger head. Smells of cured meat and malt. No maple present on the nose. Taste is heavy on the smoked side of things with bacon grease and cured meat flavors taking center stage. There's a nice underlying maltiness that fills out the palate. No maple to be found - was it a marketing ploy? Overall this is a pretty good offering from Lakefront though not one I need to buy more of.

Smoked Maple Weizenbock? It's just a little outside my wheelhouse, but okay I'll give it a try.

Pours a brilliant golden-amber in color, topped with a pale tan head. The head dissipates quickly, but leaves a fine bit of lacing on the side of the glass.

The nose seems to be the key focus, here, and there's a positively MASSIVE note of smoke, whereas the maple used in the malt/grain bill is not nearly evident. There is a sort of a cherry or plum-like character beneath the smoke.

Sweeter and a touch boozy on the nose, with more plum, jam, light ripe apple -- and more of the smoke. Best of all is there's some booziness and a prickly carbonation giving this a nice, easy-drinking character.

Some clove/spice phenols from the yeast, but no bananas going on here as is often found in the style (and there's no problem here is you ask me, since the character and subtler notes are already quite expressive.)

A light note of treacle lingers throughout, underneath everything else, lending a liqueur-like character to the drink.

Not bad at all, and reasonably challenging if I might say so. I hear-tell there's stronger, draught version with cocoa nibs. Great oogly-moogly what a cluster of flavors that would be . . . 0_o