Plank Heller Weizenbock

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

The aroma is wheat like with bubble gum, bananas, cloves, and honey. The appearance is orange gold with a large head that fades to nothing. The flavor is like the aroma. The palate is thin. Overall this is good but not great.

Pours a very lightly hazy, moderate to dark golden amber color. A large, fizzy off-white head quickly recedes to almost nothing, leaving absolutely no lacing behind. The nose is sweet and lightly fruity, with banana, caramel, and mild clove showing most prominently. Some honey glazed wheat grain emerges as well. Flavors focus on banana and toasted marshmallow, with notes of golden raisin, bubblegum, and more honey kissed wheat. There are hints of floral hop bitterness, though it’s mostly a sweet brew. The mouthfeel is substantial and lightly syrupy, but a bit overly active and prickly. Not really something I’m into, really.

500 ml bottle. Pours dark gold with a thick pillowy head. Banana, bubble gum and clove aroma. Nice Helles body, medium thick and malty. Taste is malty sweet, banana, wheat, and hints of clove and bubble gum.Hides the abv very well. Very enjoyable and tasty on a warm evening.

Bottle from Canal’s in Burlington. They got a huge shipment of these. Sweet with banana and wheat. Wonderfully balanced. One of my favorite beers.

Bottle. Sweet banana aroma. Cloudy orange amber body, large white head. Flavor is moderately sweet banana and wheat, with apple. Well carbonated. Quality.

Sampled at our hotel room tasting, GABF 2007. White thin foam head. Nice full and creamy peach smell with yeast and cloves all around it. I thought that the texture was really watery, and it distracted. Malty, sweet, and the fruity accents were nicely proportioned, but this was damn weak. I think I liked it less than almost everyone else. Oh well.

Pours a dark golden and is slightly cloudy from the yeast. Decent white foamy head. Mild grapefruit and clove aroma. Smooth and effervescent wheat taste. Sweet citrus and mild hops also present. Really good.

20081229 .5l bottle from Spirits on Sunset. I am glad they had some of this because I was bummed once I drank all of the stock from the RB Spirits and it never was replenished. Hopefully these Plank beers get another round of distribution. They were all quite good and a nice change of pace. Opaque golden with lofty white head of medium foam. Lovely, even aromas of banana and spice with hints of bubblegum and lemon. Eff is a bit aggressive, but not overly foamy or fizzy as with an acetaldehyde problem, more like it was in fact intentional and keen to break up the normally staunch, sticky body of a big wheat beer. Mint notes - winterberry - and subtle doughy sourness delight. Lovely balance of flavors with predominant themes that would lead you to believe this was little more than a hefeweizen, but, oh, what a nice and well incorporated kick of warming alcohol. I’m going camping this week and in fact have a bunch of these lined up to help take off the chill out in the woods. Excellent stuff, really excellent.