Destihl Dampfbier

Brewed by Destihl Restaurant & Brew Works
Style: Amber Ale
Normal, Illinois USA

From the brewer: "Dampfbier is an obscure, centuries-old style from the region of the Bavarian Forest near the Czech border. It is an all-barley ale, usually deep golden to light amber in color, with a unique feature: it is warm-fermented with Weissbier yeast at a temperature above 70E°F (21°C), which gives the beer a slightly phenolic taste. Brewed mostly in the summer, it is medium-bodied, very mildly hopped and is low in effervescence." Hazy amber orange, approaching a natural butterscotch color. Tiny streams of bubbles rise throughout, supporting a well-defined and lasting head. Drippy stalagtite forms of lacing appear around the edges, over time the head settles to a skim across the top. Banana esters in the nose, with a distinct caramel sweetness. Flavors of caramel and banana nut bread, with a very light bitterness in the finish. Very smooth and balanced with a good dose of mellow carbonation. Impressive and very tasty, we took home a growler of this. I’ve never tried a beer quite like this one before, it had all the best elements of hefe yeast, melded with the nutty/bready character of Dark Milds or Brown Ales from the UK. After trying more from the growler, it felt fairly thin in the body, but was otherwise pretty tasty.

Smells like a butterscotch disc and tastes like one, too - big diacetyl. Otherwise all malt with a slight hop finish... not impressed.

Interesting brew, an all barley malt bill and weissbier yeast. I’d wondered in the past what kind of results that would bring. The answer, at least in this case, is much like a dunkelweizen. From the tap at the brewpub, it poured a clear amber body with a short-lived off-white head. It had an aroma of bananas and cherries with a light brown spiciness. Add a quiet caramelly sweetness to the flavor and that pretty well sums up the beer. Tasty, refreshing, and sessionable.

Destihl Restaurant & Brew Works, Normal, IL