Maritime Pacific Navigator Dark Weizen Bock

5oz Taster - Jolly Roger Taproom - Seattle, WA
Aroma – Deep malt aroma with a fruit aroma lingering.
Appearance – Brown in color, thin head and clear.
Flavor – Huge malt flavor. There was a dried fruit flavor to this beer. Lots of special spices also.
Palate – Good Mouthfeel, nice texture with a dry finish.
Overall – This was a very nice winter ale. Bock flavoring with lots of spice and fruitiness. This was a great drinking winter ale. Needs to be served warmer.

2/29/08 On draught. Aroma is sour munich malt forward with fruity undertones and low hop character. Appearance is dark brown with a low tan head. Flavor is roasty, a little astringent, with low noble hop bittering. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a medium carb and grainy feel. Overall, not bad, but a little bit of clashing that might mellow with time.

Tap at brouwers. Poured almost black with a tan head and great lacing. Roasted wheat aroma. Sweet with lots of dark fruit, but no banana, which I expected. The flavor is also sweet and roasted with good dark wheat notes and pleasant fruitiness. Big creamy body with some warming aspects. Reminded me more of a dopplebock than a wheat beer, but was fantastic nonetheless.

On tap at Collins Pub. Damn, it looks like this fine brew hasn’t been around for a while. Very dark brown, almost black. Smells like bananas split sundae with hints of molassess. Thick, rich malty mouth. Molassess, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, cherries, brandy, truffles notes. Very rich bock like. Lingering rich dark chocolate finish. Yum.

I'm very confused...the mixture of espresso malts and sweet spices is leaving an unshakable flavor of rotten pineapple in my mouth. My friends seemed to like it so it wasn't skunked, but there was definitely something amiss here. The dusty caramel malt so inherent in dark bock-type beers seems to be a bit aggressive, almost like dark chocolate - but not well rounded at all. I think this beer could use some serious recipe tweaking.