Plank Dunkler Weizenbock

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

Pours a stunning hazy reddish brown body with a beautiful dense and thick white head. One of the most attractive looking beers I’ve ever put my eyes on. The Aroma is powerful and delightful as well. Almost belgianesque. This is one extremely well crafted beer. Awesome flavor. Boy I am glad I bought this. Now I’m going to have to try the heller weizen bock. IMO, this is a world class beer, and is better than Schneider Aventinus.

Bottle. Head is initially large, frothy, light brown, fully lasting. Body is hazy medium orange-brown, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted bread, caramel, cookie), lightly to moderately yeasty (cobwebs, cobwebs, cobwebs!), with notes of clove, banana, old wood, cinnamon/allspice, plum. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Wow...whoever made this knew what they were doing. Better than Aventinus? To me, yes, but it might depend on what you’re after. This is better balanced (less sticky-sweet) and more quaffable, but still ballsy enough to be a contemplative sipper. Slightly less alcohol too, which again helps the total mouth experience, but is still plenty to be warming. And a farking awesome yeast strain...the character is immediately evident on popping the cap and deep inhalations from the glass make my head spin (antiques in the attic; very evocative). The expected banana-clove notes are attractive and integrated into the base components perfectly; not too strong, not too faint. Incredible toasty malt aroma; about the closest thing to walking through a field of wheat...no, really...pay attention...focus on the malt aroma...how often do you get something this clean and genuine? It’s one thing to start with quality malts...it’s another thing entirely to know what to do with them. Very clean flavors...I even took the yeast shot at the end and THAT was clean. Ok, ok...you get the picture...this beer is clearly capable of giving me the rambling effect, and there’s precious few anymore that can do that. A class act full of subtlety and, dare I say it, terroir. You’d practically have to hate the style not to love this.

Mucked up ruby-orange. Jagged collar of biggish bubbles surrounds a consistent layer of creaminess. Voluptuously zingy and bright aromas of raisins, fennel, pistachio, putty, clove, and honey-drizzled plums. Whisper of cream-infused caramel. Prickly carbonation expands before condensing into a bed of velvet. Explosively juicy yet dry at the same time, with a dense plummy fruitiness which gracefully adorns the softly textured malt. Spicy clove imparts ample heat which amplifies the feisty phenols as well as the dryness. Faint sweetness and strikingly vivid accents of bubblegum pillar the body and are cut beautifully by vibrant notes of plum flesh. Alcohol is not remotely a factor. Lustrous fruitiness and quenching acidity invigorate the palate and beckon you for another sip. Pure note of sugarcane echoes the nutty coffee and sweet wheat-derived starches which contribute body as well as depth and additional complexity. Astonishingly harmonious, all around, and layered beyond belief. Finish reveals a chalky dryness and adept balance between plums, clove, and relaxed but fresh malt. A brilliantly subtle and understated example, but so explosive all around. And how about the character of that glorious Plank yeast? It’s possibly worth dying for. Absolutely exemplary in many facets.

Nicht identisch mit dem "normalen" Plank Weizenbock Dunkel, sondern dieser hier wird speziell für den amerikanischen Markt hergestellt und ist ein wenig stärker eingebraut. Enorm klares Aussehen, bei dem die leichte Trübe kaum auffällt. Leicht rotstichig und die Schaumkrone ist feinsporig und leicht angedunkelt. Der Geruch ist satt fruchtig mit besonderer Betonung auf der wenig süsslichen Bananigkeit, weist aber auch deutliche Merkmale des Weizens auf, sowie eine minimale, säuerliche Spritzigkeit. Prickelnder und deutlich fruchtig-säuerlicher Antrunk, der sofort im Anschluss die satte Fruchtigkeit in den Vordergrund stellt und somit auch eine leichte Süsslichkeit. Die malzigen Argumente wirken etwas grob, binden aber sogleich eine schwache Alkoholigkeit in den Geschmack mit ein. Diese bleibt zwar den gesamten Verlauf über im Hintergrund, ist aber dennoch leicht auszumachen. Die damit verbundene Spritzigkeit hält die Rezens aufrecht und verhindert nicht die Aromenbildung. Ab dem Mittelteil wird die wärmende Alkoholigkeit nochmals unterstrichen, dann aber auch eine süssliche Malzigkeit und an diesem Punkt legt die Fruchtigkeit eine kleine Pause ein. Der Abgang bleibt weiterhin überaus kräftig malzig, dadurch auch leicht süsslich und dankt zum Abschluss nochmals mit der ganz leicht bananigen Fruchtigkeit ab. Der "deutsche" Weizenbock der Brauerei gefällt mir noch besser!

Sample from 500 ml bottle, RBSG Minneapolis Grand Tasting, June 23 2007. Very dark, translucent to opaque brown/black, with a lasting bit of off-white head and plenty of lacing....chocolate-covered caramel-bananas power the super-forward, fresh, nearly overpowering nose; spices are light but evident (clove, a hint of ginger, allspice, vanilla) and deftly integrate into the whole....even more impressive on the tongue, the weizen character is still there just as much as in the aroma, the caramel-thick malts don’t ever overpower those delicate fruity esters, but touches of raisin and prune fit delightfully well, giving it a richness and complexity that I’ve seldom found in this style -- heck, in any style....the yeast gives it a soft, supple, well-rounded and perhaps lightly aged feel; the carbonation is absolutely perfect, sparkling and effervescent but not too much to cut into the softness and creaminess of the mouthfeel. My top beer from the summer gathering; thanks so much to JK for providing this!

Poured a murky brownish red color with a large, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of nuts, caramel malts, banana, toffee, dark fruits, and roasted malts. Taste of toffee, vanilla cream, banana, nuts, light smoke, bubblegum, with some roast, caramel, light clove, raisins, and citrus as well.

LIghtly hazed dark copper to burnt orange color, which gets cloudier and slightly darker as the rest of the bottle is poured into the Aventinus glass. Tall, dry bone colored head. LIghtly toasted wheat and mild cloves in the aromas. A little fruit in the sniff as well, perhaps a bit of banana and currants. Near perfect palate with a little zip and certainly not cloying or thick. LIghty toasted wheat and malt flavors mix with mild spice, light fruit and a hint of old oak. No signs of the alcohol. Balanced beyond most and the flavors, while not mind bending are certainly present and makes one ponder if you are not in too big of a hurry.

This is good. Poured from the bottle, it has one of the most impressive heads I have ever seen and looks like a rootbeer float. The foam takes a long time to settle. Aroma has wheat, banana, cloves, and some citrus. Flavor is very nice as well. Wheaty, with a lot more banana. Light spices, and just a touch of alcohol, but it never goes too far in this aspect. Considerable sediment in my glass. this is an excellent wheat beer and an excellent weizen bock.