Penn Penndemonium

Brewed by Pennsylvania Brewing Company
Style: Heller Bock
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Bottle. Pour is an orangish gold with lots of bubbles rising to the surface and a little bit of haze to it. Head is fairly minimal. Aromas are reminiscent of Oktoberfest... heavy malt, sweet, honey and bread. Flavor is more of the same, but a bit of a fruity presence comes in and the alcohol is fairly detectable. Nice.

Poured from a brown glass bomber into a pint glass. Dull golden nectar with the faintest hint of cloudiness, and a white frothy head. Leaves a nice lacing on the glass. Malt aromas dominate this one. There is a subdued creaminess that balances the malt. Again, the malts dominate the palate. They do not hide or cover up the the 10% ABV, as you get all of it at the end. This beer just didn’t do it for me. There didn’t seem to be a good balance between the malts and alcohol; something was missing to bridge the two. Medium bodied and creamy with a crisp finish. Heavier than I expected. Definitely not session beer; some beers hide their alcohol, and this is not one of them. Not my favorite, but I’m glad I tried it.

22 oz bottle, via lukin013. Pours a slightly hazy gold body under a one finger fizzy white head that had decent retention. Moderate visible carbonation. The nose is bready cereal grains with a slight sweetness akin to honey. A little bit of cooked veggies sneaking in too. The flavor is a little heavier on the cooked veggies, covering up much of the malt and not leaving a very clean finish. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with a fairly watery texture and very prickly fizzy carbonation. Overall, not sure what they were going here for, but nothing about this is very good.

22 oz. bottle. Pours a clear dark golden in color with a medium sized off white head. The aroma is medium sweet with a little honey and caramel, bread, very light hops. The flavor has light citrus, caramel, alcohol, medium sweet malts, with a slight touch of hops. Medium bodied with a slight stickiness.

Pours a clear golden amber. Nose is like dried wheat. If not wheat, then just dried straw. I just think "dried" when I take a whiff. Flavor is smooth with a sweet touch to it. The sweet might be overstated for some. Feel has a good carbonation to it and the liquid is good as well. Seems a bit too sticky though. Overall this is good, but a bit too lop-sided with the sweet edge to it.

22 oz bottle. Pours a golden color with a medium-small white head. Aroma is sweet. Flavor is standard lager-like, with notes of citrus and spice. It’s carbonated, but not in the bad way. Good with a meal but that’s about it.

Pours a translucent golden amber with a medium creamy/bubbly white head that left some lacing. Aroma of dough, honey, cereal grains, touch of orange...mostly sweet and malty with some lingering alcohol. Flavor was pretty much the more of the same sweet malty character with more honey notes, some light citrus, for 8% ABV rather well hidden.

22. Thanks, Kim! Very lightly hazy medium caramel amber under a thin light gray film. Sweet orange, honey, and spice on the nose. Very light thin body with aggressive fizz. No booze on the nose or on the mid-palate (kind of amazing, that!). Fades into butterscotch. Lovely, interesting, and very well under control, which says something about their skills at Penn. Nicely done.