Allgäuer Alt Kemptener Weisse

Brewed by Allgäuer Brauhaus (Oetker Group)
Style: Dunkelweizen
Kempten, Germany

Bottle. Pours a rich opaque brown with a quickly disappearing bubbly head and high carbonation. Aroma of banana and clove. First sip is stronger than you’re ready for, with flavors of banana, clove, and earth. Everyone says chocolate... did I taste chocolate? I need another one. Great brew.

Don’t turn away, or you’ll miss the head! Initially tall and fizzy, it vanishes rapidly, exposing the top of the light, caramel colored brew. The aroma is a bready malt with chocolate and toffee. Light bodied, it has a more complex flavor, sweet malts, banana, still a hint of chocolate, banana, and a light spiciness. Tasty, if a bit light.

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From a 1pt. 9oz. euro brown bottle with no bottled/freshness date. Made a good appearance, poured a hazy nutty brown with a large foamy, bubbly topped beige/whitish head that settled into a thin foamy lacing, moderate carbonation. Had a sweet malty and yeasty nose, toffee and caramelized, with faint hints of cloves and bananas and a sweet apple fruitiness. A malty crisp, slightly slick and creamy smooth light bodied mouth feel, above average drinkability. Toffee and caramelized malty taste followed by subtle clove and banana rind, a subdued spicy hoppiness that never rise to surface and a dryish malty and yeasty finish. A nice Dunkel Weizen, not a great one, but still very drinkable.

(500 ml bottle: $2.59 at Hollingshead Deli in Orange, CA) Another bottle with 2 of the 3 date numbers blocked out, so there’s telling how old this bottle is. It tasted decent enough, presenting mostly bready, mildly toasty wheat and yeast, with the breadiness really taking over the finish. It really lacks the finer points for a dunkelweizen: no banana, no spices. Bready wheat and yeast in the nose. Medium-bodied and well-carbonated on the palate. Somewhat cloudy, dirty amber in color wiht many streams of swiftly-moving carbonation bubbles rising through the beer. Nearly an inch of light-tan head fades to a ring, and even that is probably kept alive by all the carbonation bubbles. Overall, it’s not bad, not great, just a fairly simple, drinkable dunkelweizen, but not one I’d buy again.

Bottle. Banana, clove, and roasted malt aroma. Orange brown color - cloudy with nice head. Spicy - cloves, pepper, dark malt with banana/orange aroma finish. Very good.

Pours a dark copper with a tall off-white rocky head. Sweet toasty caramel malts and a nice amount of clove flavor and aroma. I didn’t pick up much banana esters, but the clove esters came through nicely. Medium body on the palate with a very nice balance and smooth finish.

Head is initially huge, frothy, off-white, fully lasting. Body is hazy medium brown, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (bread, caramel, toasted grain), trace yeast (cobwebs), with notes of brown sugar, banana, clove. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Decent dunkelweizen, nice aroma and balance, less fizzy than most, great appearance. Just a tad bland, though, and not crisp enough.

Medium brown under a big, foamy white head. Aroma was a blend of fruit and spice and malt and sweetness. Medium feel in the mouth. The flavor repeated the aroma of fruit, spice, malt, and sweetness. Just not my thing.