Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel

Looks sensational - cloudy brown with a pillowy beige meringue-like head that lasted for ages. Unfortunately this meant I had to wait an eternity for the aroma to properly come through. When it did, it was a fairly meek clove with some toffee. Balanced flavour, with some mild bitterness in swallowing and bit of sweet chewiness. Quite easy drinking and easily quaffable, which is good considering it comes in a 0.5L bottle.

Cloudy; malty; damn good. I need a minimum of 75 characters for my review, so here they are.

A solid Dunkel, much more flavorful than their regular hefeweissen. Dark brown color, with thick head, cloudyness and present body. Finish needs a little something added to lacked punch.

Bottle. Hazy dark brown body under a medium lasting off-white head. Sweet fruity aroma. Flavour of clove and banana.

Heavy wheat and malt aroma. Massive head that’s lighet than expected. Very sweet, with a medium body. Finishes a bit long and sweet.

Draught pint at Sunset Grill on 8/5/06.
Large, heavy cream-colored head recedes steadily to cover, leaving somewhat less lacing than expected as it goes. Muddy body is a drab, olivine-mahogany, with a slight ruddy tint. Plentiful carbonation rising upwards quickly.
Muted clove, and bananas covered in liquid brown sugar, with a soft note of mushy brown bread. A bit of dry, black pepper phenol on the end, and some highly nutty, dull yeast. Seems quite dry, though, without any alcoholic overtone (no fusels). Even some hops? Herbal and soily, but still present. You want to hate InBev, but there’s nothing wrong with this aroma, quite the opposite.
Soft, mushy fruits, in the flavor, of peach, banana, apricot and mango quickly meld with the medium-dry brown sugar and brown wheat bread. A slight streak of light pepperiness clings to the side of the palate, while there is a touch of minerals (tin?) and then a very watery finish. So not quite the sum of the aroma, but up front the beer is well-attenuated and full of dry caramel, bready malts and fruits. No overworked clove phenols, nor are the dark malts over-represented. Still, the dull, watery finish needs work, and I don’t get any of the hop flavor, expected from the nose. Alcohol is not present in the flavor. Carbonation is moderate.
Rerate
Draught at Sunset Grill on 10/6/07
Better than when I had it before, with a chewy toffee-apricot-peach flavor and plenty of wheat for palate smoothness. Nice, engaging carbonation, whisking the flavors about and then providing a curt ending that cleanses the palate with light phenols and touches of roast. Well-attenuated and yet with enough sugars. Banana and clove are moderate. Good stuff. Vaguely chocolatey.

very aromatic, strong malty taste with a bitter note in the finish, brown slightly muddy poor, very clean finish.

Moderate-to-heavy malty aroma (toasted, caramel) with light yeasty notes; notes of banana. Brown muddy body with a huge, light-brown rocky head; mostly lasting with a good lacing. Flavour is moderately sweet and lightly acidic at the beginning; after a while a moderate bitter nte grows up giving a light liquorice note at the finsh. Medium body with oily texture; average-to-lively carbonation; lifht astringent feeling in the finsh. Satisfactory beer; bitter note in the finish is quite pleasent and makes it more thirst-quenching the other beers of this style, even if less "easy" than the "hells".