Goose Island Dunkelweizenbock

Sampled from 750 ml bottle during Dark Lord Day ’09, at table 4. Pours a hazy brownish amber brew with a thin beige head that quickly dissipates to an off-white ring. Aroma of caramel malt, some yeast/banana esters, cloves, and a touch of citrus zest. Taste is medium bodied, some light carbonation with flavors of dark multi-grain malt, some banana esters, clove, chocolate, bubblegum, and a touch of lemon zest. Finish is semi-sweet, with a mild banana aftertaste that quickly disappears.

Sampled March 2009
This beer pours with a noticeable viscous texture. The beer is topped by a frothy, initially two-finger thick, lightly browned, tan colored head. The beer is a murky, muddy, brown-amber color that is hazy enough to be opaque when held up directly to the light, but does pick up a bit more of a red hue. Up front I get a banana note that is quickly subsumed by a toasted malt character. A bit of clove character is noticeable throughout the aroma and there is also a nice nuttiness here in the nose. There is a touch of spiciness here as well, which seems to meld with the toasted grain notes, and there is also a prune / fig fruit thing going on here as well that seems to get a bit over-ripe as the beer warms. An interesting nose, but it isn’t quite as expressive as I might have hopped.

Not nearly as sweet tasting as I expected, there is a touch of malt sweetness here, but it is well tempered by a wheat-tartness and the toasted malt character. My second sip sees a bit of clove spiciness become noticeable up front and the tartness accentuates some plum-like flavors. The finish has a mix of hop bitterness and toasted malt notes that are not quite roasty, but do provide a touch of astringency. The body of this beer isn’t as big as it looked visually, but does have some heft to it; the beer is actually pretty quaffable for a beer of this strength though and is pretty nice for the style. This has a bit of an off flavor in the finish that is sort of plastic like, a bit savor / meaty, or perhaps just burnt; I really can’t quite put my finger on it.

Not a bad beer as most of the elements seem to be here, but somehow all the flavors / aromas don’t seem to combine into an integrated whole all that well. Still this is certainly enjoyable

Sampled at DLD 09. Dark brown pour with tannish head. Aroma of bananas, some chocolate. Flavor is delicious. Nice balance of banana, some peanuts, bubblegum. Great flavor. Mouthfeel is nice. Loved this Dunkel.

TAP: brown pour, with aroma of banana, wheat, and malt. Taste is caramel, bread, banana, with a tart citrus finish. Very good beer.

On Tap at Clybourn, muddy brown color nice bodied, off white had poured in the correct glass, littel alcohol bite at the end dry wheat flavors, drinkable.

Tap at the Clybourn location. Dry, peanuty aroma, caramel and black pepper. Kind of sweet, very thick, with far too much wheat. Some bubblegum notes as well. Doesn’t work for me.

(10/9/08) Draught sample at the brewpub in Clybourn, Chicago. Very muddy brown color. Aroma of caramelly malt, big fruity esters, wheat and even some light coffee hints. Sweet flavor with malt, caramel, dark bread, wheat, fruits and light roasted hints. Medium-bodied. A bit unusual but not bad.

On tap at the brewpub: This poued burnt orange/brown in color with a moderate mustard colored head. The nose showed off the banana, clove, toffee and chocolate which continued into a medium-bodied beer that had noticable carbonation in the midpalate. The palate lacked a bit of power which the nose hinted at.