Leavenworth Boulder Bend Dunkelweizen

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Dunkelweizen
Olympia, Washington USA

Used to get this in a Party Pig from the Leavenworth Brewery. Have not had in while, but to this day it remains my favorite. Beautiful creamy head with a zesty start and a smooth finish. Great anytime!

Seventh stop during the ABA Beer Tour ’07 in Olympia, Washington. Sampled on tap at the Fish Tale brewpub. Pours a hazy dark caramel brew with a thick and lumpy off-white head with good retention and lacing. Aroma of multi-grain with more wheat character with a touch of citrusy hops. Taste is medium bodied, very light carbonation with a sweet wheat flavor. Finish is smooth, creamy with a very light bitter aftertaste.

On Tap at Fish Tale Brewery. Even Malt and hop forward aroma. Low on esters, some banana & clove notes, but nothing heavy like in a european hef. Appearance was solid, little more cloudy than typical for style, but well within norms. Flavor was very malt forward, only slightly bitter, touch of clove, grainy. Not very sweet, with a very slight finish. Overall, very enjoyable, but could do with some more ester common to more complex Dunkels.

Draft at the 74th St. Thick, grainy, dark dirty-brown body. Any innocent passerby could plainly see that this liquid was produced with grain. Many innocent passersby might well assume there’s still a fair amount of grain bits left in the glass. This beer has a face only a mother could love...but if you’re on this site you’re probably a little bit of a mother. This is a surging, cloudy beer, if I haven’t completely belabored that point yet. Thick biscuit, loam, and wet leaf on the nose, along with a little bit of tart from the wheat. Very little head, though you could almost call the body moussy, especially before it settles. More of the same damp flavors from the nose hit the tongue--fairly deep, and certainly verdant. There’s some spicy hop clinging to a life raft as the last of the mid palate rushes by, and then the leaves and dirt and sweat and biscuits and toast crush it for the brief but appealing finish. This beer used to be even darker and messier and more of a pleasure to drink when Leavenworth was still running their own show, but it’s still fun. What’s great about it may go against a lot of what I’ve just said--it;s very refreshing. I shudder to think of what the calories might be given the body, but the abv’s so low and the refreshment so pronounced that this is a hell of a session beer. Nice to see it still turning up in kegs.

On tap at the Taphouse. Pours a hazy dark amber with a lacy off-white head. Light aroma of toffee and noble hops. Light body and carbonation. Sour wheat plus honey and fruit taste. Dry noble hop finish.

On tap at the Alehouse in U.P. When actually brewed in Leavenworth, this was one of my least favorites of the lineup, but the Fish crew has steadily improved this brew, and it’s now among my favorites. Muddy chocolate color, roasty malts and the banana/clove wheat notes combine to make this a wonderful session beer. However, keep your gear clean for this one, publicans --it doesn’t tolerate mishandling well.

KLCC brewfest ’07. I think this beer was infected or they needed to clean the beerlines on the jocky box, just funky vegitable finish. Nose was ok, light blend of banana and clove. Flavor started with a light chocolate note, but was quickly overwhelmed by a funky vegitable bitterness, had to describe, but bad. Pours a murky brown with a small tan head.

no head over a gold body, malty caramel apple nose, mutant malt flavor, vanilla and wheat