Ramstein Classic

Brewed by High Point Brewing Company
Style: Dunkelweizen
Butler, New Jersey USA

Serve in Stein, Weizen

Pours brown with a film of tan bubbles. Smells of alcohol and toffee. Tastes is very rich with cherries, grapes, nuts, and some of that alcohol popping up. The alcohol is surprisingly prevelant, though not enough for alcohol burn. Rich caramel candy finish. Unusual but tasty!

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Eyedrinkale, thanks Mike!) I’ve been holding onto this beer for quite some time, hoping to get some of the best dunkelweizens together to see how it would compare, but in the process, I think this beer has lost a bit due to excessive aging. It smells quite mushroomy and earthy, which from my experience is often a sign of overaging. Granted, I like that aroma a lot, I often cook with pungent smelling and tasting Shitake mushrooms, but it’s overpowering the other aromas that I suspect ought to be there. Fairly intense flavor, with sweet, toasty and very caramely malts, dark fruits, molasses, some roastiness, but also that earthy, mushroomy flavor. Despite this, I can still taste a bit of banana in the background, but it’s easy to overlook. Medium-full in body, nicely carbonated, and doesn’t thin at all in the finish. Murky, dark brown color has modest translucence. Light tan head pours small and fades to a tiny ring, but the aging could have had a negative impact on this. In the end, this has still been an enjoyable beer, but it’s probably quite different from how it tastes fresh. Will have to retry in the future.

Muddy brown color. Light aroma. Nice full body. Nothing stand-out, but stil nice and smooth. Easy to drink and enjoy.

Poured dark brown with practically no head. Not a great appearance. Smell had banana, cloves, chocolate, coffee and a unique sourness. The sourness was too much in the taste for me. To me this cannot compete with some of the good German Dunkelweizens. I liked it, but the sourness was a little funky. It went away by the finish, but that was too late.

Vinous aroma allows much more alcohol through than I’d anticipate for this style. It comes out in a phosphoric, minty and anise like foreground that quickly reminds of a strong roasty tea with notes of cloves. Body is very dark, schwarzbier like, but the little off-white head dissipates quickly. Biting carbonation doesn’t last long. Once again, a surprisingly fruity and vinous flavor, nutty, alcoholic and not quite to my liking in its balance despite the rather vast array of esters and malt nuances.

Murky, chocolate brown in color with a gray, fizzing and small head. Aroma is chocolate covered bananas, molasses, nutmeg and yeast. Milk chocolate leads the way for flavor. Some unsweetened chocolate bitterness and hints toward hot cocoa spiked with Irish cream liquor. I’d be okay if they amplified all these flavor elements. Substantial body, with nice accents from chocolate and toasted malts, and a fair share of hops. Aggressive carbonation as expected, but settles down well. Finish is cocoa and toasted pecans, with a chocolate pound cake aftertaste. Increased chocolate and wheat elements in the last few sips. Good stuff. The next best dunkelweiss I’ve had, second to Black Wheat. Thanks again, tpkenned!

Draught at Spuyten Duyvil, New York. Amber colour. Heavily roasted malt nose, and earthy. Flavour is reminiscent of toast bread, and has notes of fruits.

Very good. It looks like a glass of iced tea (same coloring) and smells like a wheat beer. Taste is pretty good - not typical.