AleSmith Weizenbock

Formerly brewed at AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Weizen Bock
San Diego, California USA

(1999 Vintage) Decent head with minimal carbonation. Lots of floater and chunkies in there. Medium golden orange in color. Little alcohol in the aroma. Slightly tart with some butter in there. Strange. HUGE butterscotch in the flavor. Delicious. Fizzy in the mouth. Nice alcohol warming. Makes the gums tingle. Smooth with very little wheat flavor as far as I am concerned. Slightly dry, bitter finish with more creamy butter lingering around. An excellent beer and I don’t even like butter.

Sampled October, 2005
Pours a lightly hazy amber (as in the sap) color with a frothy, pretty quickly disappearing head. The aroma is still quite rich and malty, but has picked up some aged malt character that is a mix between sherry, dried plums, umami, and perhaps a hint of mustiness. There are also notes of raisin, caramel, plus a mix of rich sweet spiciness reminiscent of clove, allspice and a bit of sharp cinnamon. The aroma is quite aromatic and pleasing to sit here and explore.

The palate/ mouthfeel is pretty full up front, but tends to fade somewhat as the beer passes through my mouth. It is somewhat sweet but, as in many aged beers, has taken on a rich sweetness that is reminiscent of carmalized sugar and malt extract, as opposed to the brighter sweetness found in a younger beer. The richness of this beer is also reflected in the fact that this beer tastes warmer than its actual serving temperature, if that makes any sense. The beer is quite smooth and quaffable up front, but picks up a bit of carbonated spritziness as well as a bit of spiciness in the finish, almost a note of mint or menthol actually. This beer has gotten quite a bit more malt focused over time, the fresh spicy Weizen character has been subdued and morphed into other flavors. There is definitely a certain tartness here in the finish as well, perhaps the residual wheat character still showing through.

This beer has definitely aged quite a bit, but it has held up a lot better than the alcohol percentage suggests it should. I definitely recommend picking up the stray bottle that might still be out there. Having said that though, I am not too sure how much longer I would hold on to one of these, maybe a year, maybe two at the most.

<font size=-4>Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Sandwich, San Gabriel, CA<font size=-1>

Wow, what a treat! From a 750 shared by DarkElf - thanks Stephen! This rare gem pours a hazy dark topaz color with a few noticible floaties and a thin off-white head that diminished to a ring of bubbles which then hung around almost endlessly. The aroma is amazing and complex, rich fruity and yeasty smells waft up, I get fresh figs, dried apricots, overripe banana along with hints of spice cake, coriander, mild white pepper, clove, a bit of old oak and must. Flavor is wow too. Very sweet with again lots of fruit and spice. I can identify the taste of honey, sweet ripe oranges, peach and banana, yeasty brown bread notes come through, also lemon zest, light clove and more white pepper, earthy herbs, a hint of alcohol peeking through with a little bitterness and astringency in the finish. The mouthfeel is smooth and full with a tiny bit of prickliness and it leaves a slight coating on the roof of the mouth and tongue. This one has aged very well and as DarkElf notes, it’s a fine sipping beer. Thanks again!

(750 ml bottle: Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel, CA) For my 1500th beer on Ratebeer, I’ve planned my tastings around the rare and elusive AleSmith Weizenbock. Bouncing around like a kid on Christmas morning, absolutely giddy with excitement, I somehow removed the foil without ripping it, popped the cap, and unexpectedly found a cork to pull out as well. Scrambling for my corkscrew, I completed that task and poured about 12 ounces into my Duvel tulip glass, and have been rewarded with an amazing aroma wafting up to my nose. Sweet, malty, fruity (raisins, apricot, botrytis-infected grapes), woody, wow, what a cacophony of heavenly aromas here. It smells almost like a dessert wine, reminiscent of a sherry, but with some beer-like qualities. The flavor is wonderfully "worty", malty and moderately sweet like the German malt-dominated beers I enjoy the hell out of (but it’s not really wheaty like most weizen bocks), caramely, fruity, hints of molasses now and then, lightly tart for balance, quite vinous, lightly woody and earthy, mildly yeasty, I’m even getting the occasional hints of apricot and coconut here. As I drink this beer, I’m reminded of how "in heaven" I feel when I drink a quality dessert wine or sherry (it is sherry-like, but obviously not as intense as sherry), and this is even more true after the beer sits on my undisturbed palate for ten to fifteen seconds, which means this is a total sipper. I keep mentioning dessert wines and sherries, which means this has evolved pretty far beyond or away from an authentic Weizen Bock, and though I love that style, I’m extremely happy with how this beer has transformed because I believe there are no greater elixirs on Earth than sherries and dessert wines. There is an ever-so-slight oxidation that is only perceptible as the beer warms to room temperature, but for such an old beer, I find the lack of oxidation quite amazing. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a homer, but I’m sorry, this is absolutely incredible, and given the age, I’m in total awe. Well-carbonated, full bodied, sticky, slightly syrupy, but never cloying, the sign of a good dessert wine, and also the sign of a good "dessert" beer. A gorgeous, bright, ruddy orange in color, it’s also fully cloudy, with plenty of flaky yeasties circulating up through the center of the beer, and then down along the edge. The light-tan head pours to an initial height of about an inch, thanks to the narrowing of the tulip glass near the top. It gradually settles to a thin, broken layer atop the beer, but holds there. I’m sorry about gushing like this, but I’m totally into sherries and dessert wines, and this is truly a dessert beer. I’ll be going to Stuffed Sandwich tomorrow, and if there are any more bottles of this, I’ll will buy one (or more, if Sam lets me). I feel like I can die a happy man now. Peter, if you’re reading this, AleSmith absolutely MUST brew this again. If you’re not reading this, I’ll be pestering you incessantly until you do. I worship at this beer’s altar. I can’t stop gushing..........

Bottle - 1999 vintage... Murky, orange ale with a mid-sized, off-white head. Rich, malty aroma & flavor with notes of caramel, toffee, fuzzy fruit, spice (clove?) and fruitcake. Medium-bodied and creamy with moderate carbonation. Lengthy, fruitcake & butterscotch finish with some dryness. Huge props go out to eyedrinkale for digging into his extensive cellar and breaking this baby out!

Hazy orange golden colored with yeast sediments and a fine greyish head. Sweet yeast and fruit aroma with orange and pineapple notes. Very full and rather sticky. Sweet flavor as well, yeast and some wheat and lots of fruit. Tones of citrus. Flavorfull and heavy. Weizen bocks are not my favorite, but this one is pretty nice. Thanks a lot Per (omhper) for buying this rare brew for me at Stuffed Sandwich and bringing it to Denmark!!

Rich alcoholic aroma, dry wheat and oxidation present. Thin head, light color. Medium to full body. Taste is sweet and alcoholic with hints of mint. Very dry, bitter finish. Past its prime, but still ok.

Light orange with a tinge of gold. Big malty nose with a big toffee base and hints of honeydew melon, vanilla, banana, white nectarine and honey. Peppermint sticks are present in the aroma as well, and odd considering I noticed the same thing in the old Stumblin Monk. The nose is great but unfortunately it’s a bit cloying in its malty sweetness, which doesn’t mix very well with the oxidation. Honeydew melon flavors continue on, with many fruit forwards notes, along with a huge dose of honey on the finish.