Plank Hefeweizen

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

(500ml bottle) Thanks Joss. Pours a cloudy body with a thin white head settling to the sides. Eggy-peachy nose. Wet weeds and cardboard. I think this was past its prime but was still pretty good.

Picked up single 16.9 oz bottle from Cellar’s Wine & Spirits in St Paul, MN. Pours a hazy golden pale brew with a thick white head that has some good retention and lacing. Aroma of hefe-style banana esters, clove, multi-grain malt with some wheat, a touch of vanilla and bubblegum. Taste is medium bodied, light carbonation with flavors of malty light multi-grain, some banana yeast, and some vanilla/clove. Finish is semi-sweet with a decent banana and malt aftertaste.

My third rate from these guys, I haven’t been disappointed at all so far. Aroma is classic hefeweizen banana, clove esters, and also a metallic note. Large quickly diminishing head with a body that is a touch darker than many in this style. Spritzy is a good term for palate. A little light on the flavor, NG Dancing Man Wheat which I recently rated was much more flavorful. This is pretty decent, and probably a better than average hefe, but no where near the quality of the dunkler weizenbock or heller weizenbock that I’ve rated previously.

Bottle from Skyview (IOU) and served in my Weihenstephan glass: Pours a cloudy golden hue with a huge fluffy head and very good lacing. The aroma has notes of the classic banana, clove, bubblegum phenolic ester along with wheat husk and a hint of mineral water. The taste is a bit too muted to keep up with the classic hefeweizens sadly. You can find wheat and pale malt, minor fruit and spice on the palate. The mouth feel is sprite and refreshing enough. A good brew indeed but hardly world class.

Pours a deep murky copper (clear until swirled and dreggs poured in), with a massively rocky off white head with great retentionbut spotty light lacing. Aroma is spicy and earthy- definitely on the phenolic side with moderate banana esters- peppery, vanilla, and tons of hot spicy clove- yeasty and a bit dirty but enjoyable. Good full wheaty flavor- some lemon/lime character, lemongrass- herbal and some phenolic- overall nice and standard hefe- but a bit tart in the end and around the edges of the tongue which actually make it nice and refreshing. Mouthfeel is pretty smooth- and has a light puckering effect. Pretty good overall.

Bottle as Plank Weizen. Pours hazy like either peach juice or cloudy piss. Little head. Can smell the slightly soured, metallic aroma as soon as it is poured. Tastes sour in a putrid, not nice, way, as if it has gone bad. The palate is too sticky. Would appreciate another go at this in the future. As I sampled from the same bottle as Oakes, I can see the mosquito did a number on this one.

Plank Weizen. Cloudy peach colour. The mosquito floating in it was a nice touch. Strong footy nose with stewed peaches. Sweet, slightly flowery accent. Bleh...just a muddy, unkempt wheat of no positive distinction.

A vigorous pours yields a cloudy dark golden bronze body with a large, airy coating of spotty-lacing white head. Aroma of semi-sweet malted wheat with a lot of clove, earthy German hops and a touch of banana esters. Body starts with a lot of effervescent carbonation which masks some of the sweet wheaty undertones and clove spice. After repeated swirling and allowing the beer to warm up closer to 60F, more estery complexities come out toward a balanced, fairly-full finish. Overall, a pretty good hefeweizen that would probably be best on tap when the carbonation wouldn’t be as much of an issue.