Plank Dunkler Weizenbock

Brewed by Brauerei Plank Laaber
Style: Weizen Bock
Laaber, Oberpfalz/Bayern, Germany

Bottled. Nice sweet banana clove aroma to start, a bit tangy with mild alcohol warming and brown sugar. Vaporous and a rich malty aroma. Some fruity tart notes. Dull, dark brown cloudy with a foamy off-white lacing head. Medium watery body with medium heavy carbonation. Starts fairly sweet with a lot of banana & plum fruitiness, mild acidity and Seem alcohol. Not quite watery but lacks a certain fullness that affects the taste. Very light bitter finish, with a wheaty tang and decent sweetish tang.

Bottle (thanks to Jonas !): Slightly hazy, amber coloured, bigger, quite stable off-white head with a little lace, fruity, wheaty and yeasty nose with a tinge of toasted malt; moderate to stronger sweet-bitter flavour, medium to full bodied; wheaty , sweet dark-malty finish with a tinge of yeast. Good stuff.........

Firey, dark mahogany brown pour; resilient nicotine tanned white skin. Cooled, spicy aroma of cloves and nutmeg; brown sugar and banana with an earthy mineral edge and a hint of worcestshire. Tannic tones. Tastes of bananas, cloves sharp and brisk, bubblegum, cocoa powder and gritty dark fruit sugars of raisin and cranberry. Hazelnut skin and date bitterness tempers the tendency to lean too heavily into the sweetness of fruit and yeast characteristics; this is really an example that has it all together, as a truly lovely roasted chestnut and cardamom warmth envelopes the mouth with a delicate embrace toward the end. Sharply carbonated with a firey bite, and medium in body; a bit more smoothness would be wonderful. Finish carries a wink of moist, smoky moss into a lengthy coating of cotton candy and sweet sake; some earthiness of damp wild rice. Leans toward cloying, but restrains itself easily, and settles in again to its calm but searingly intense adherence to style, while it remains unique to itself.

Dull dark brown colour. Small head. Hazy. Depths of dark fruit in the nose with chocolate accents. Sweet but it’s quality maltiness with hints of chocolate, toffee along with lots of plum and raisin. Smooth, unspectacular but quality throughout.

Bottle: Deep muddy brown, large foamy off-white head, sticky lacing.   Wheaty bready nose, very slight dark pitted fruit, some clove, weaker banana.   Very spritzy on the tongue, wheaty, a little darker wheat malt, slightly toasty, a hint of figs/dates.   Mild sweetness, but not as spicy or flavorful as say Aventinus.   Moderate to full body and mouthfeel.   Clean finish, lingering dark pitted fruit and breadiness.   Pretty good, solid, but still pales to Aventinus.   As you can tell I am always searching for the quality of Aventinus or better.   Thanks to Styles for the bottle!

My Bottom Line:
Fruity cloves and bready maltiness swirl around the distant bananas in this dark Weizenbock’s earthen yeast tornado.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-Foam slowly dissipates into the murky brownish red.
-Carbonation is expansive and not entirely cohesive with the malty corps, even though it helps to fluff up the mouthfeel.
-This is a little too attenuated for a beer this size, imho.
-In a side by side dark Weizenbock comparison with Aventinus and a homebrewing friend’s own excellent take on the style, this one appeared weak and incoherent.

Bottle.

(500ml bottle) Joss - Thanks for sharing. Pours a quick dissipating white head with a deep brown body. Good carbonation. Nose of solid banana and malt mix. Medium tonic maltiness with a wood and bourbon finish. Good.

Bottle from Skyview and served in my Aventinus glass: Deep coppery brown hue with a huge fluffy off-white head and excellent lace. The aroma has it all you would expect from the genre with banana, clove, bubblegum esters in conjunction of caramel, nutty, tobacco and a hint of plum ester. NICE!

The taste follows suit with fruit and malt forward flavors supported by wheat and yeast throughout. The finish is a tad smoky as well. The mouth feel is a tad too carbonated but does improve it’s drinkability. This is a fine example of the style and I like it more than the Heller version.