Plank Hefeweizen

Brewed by Brauerei Plank Laaber
Style: German Hefeweizen
Laaber, Oberpfalz/Bayern, Germany

Bottle. Pours hazy and lightly cloudy brown with a large, frothy, off-white head, mostly lasting, excellent lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (hay, straw, nutty), average hops (herbs, grass), heavy yeast (horse blanket, earth, leaves) with notes of banana. Medium bodied, sticky texture, lively carbonation and a bitter finish. Long duration, light sweetness, moderate acidity and bitterness.

Obtained from Jungle Jims. Pours hazy dark golden with a mostly receding wispy off-white head. Ur-weisse coloring. Aroma of sweet yeasty cloves, honey, banana, melon. Taste is sweet and yeasty with notes of white grape, banana. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with lush carbonation. Very enjoyable hefe.

2007 (assumed) bottle from Downeast Beverages, drunk on 8/4/07
Big, creamy, white head is rocky and leaves moderate lacing. Pale golden color has hay and maize tints, with tiny bubbles and plentiful sediment on the bottom. Clarity is medium to medium-high (I dont mix the sediment in). Strong retention.
Lovely crisp, hoppy, light nose is full of vivacious herbs and spices, with strong wheat character and only minimal bubble gum. It seems like a light take on the style, but that’s fine and all the more enjoyable because the light aroma notes (soft spices/herbs, light esters and clean water) are all abundant. Very minimal vanilla, and mostly a light, somewhat grainy barley character to the base malts, with moderate sweetness. No alcohol or flaws.
Highly effervescent carbonation for the style, especially being that it’s bottled, though manageably tight, really helps sap the sweetness and highlights a flavorful mineral element to the beer, with succulent spices emanating from the hops (lemongrass, starfruit, wildflowers, lilacs) and a surprising lack of wheat blandness/chewiness/heaviness (whatever you want to call it). The malts are fresh and grainy, adding to the crisp, dry, drinkable nature of the beer. With warming, honey-cream sweetness emerges, in moderation, to give a bit more substance/body to the beer, as the carbonation simultaneously subsides. Clove and banana are present but modest. Terrific yeast! Much like Weihenstephaner’s. Can’t wait to try the others from Plank!

50cL bottle guzzled on 8/24/07. Pours a deep cloudy almost copper color with some of the sexiest head I’ve ever seen on a Hefe, quite a few chunks though. Nice and banana-y with noticeable bitterness in the finish. Damn refreshing for those 90F days with 85% humidity.

Bottle courtesy of artusory. Thanks, Ryan! Pours a hazy, effervescent orange-brown color; foamy, off-white head with great retention and large-bubbled lacing. Plenty of wheat and wet malts and citrus in the aroma; a slight, drying presence of cloves. Nice, full presence in the mouth: lively carbonation and citrus at the perimeter of the tongue, giving a crisp, almost sharp initial presence; the core is chewy, showing cloves and further citrus and fruits, but maintains a strong drinkability; this strikes a good balance. Medium, wet malt and clove finish; ends on the dry side of things.

Bottle from Styles. Hazy light amber/pale body with a large rocky beige head. The aroma is lightly sweet, bready malts with estery yeast and a touch of caramel. Flavor is lightly sweet, light caramel, some herbal hops, banana and cloves. Medium body is soft with gentle carbonation. Really good stuff.

A lot more banana than clove. Quite strong in wheatiness with a lot of banana throughout. Coats the mouth entirely.

Sample from a bottle @ River’s Bend. Thanks Matt! Pours a cloudy dark golden color with a medium white head that quickly diminishes to a lasting crown. The aroma is wheat grass, light bananas, cloves, and a touch of citrus. The flavor is pretty much the same. I pick up citrus early that gives way to the bananas and cloves, before moving on to the drier yeasty finish. Medium bodied.