Ramstein Winter Wheat

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

This beer is one step below pitch black. Held to light, it shows a little bit of ruby. Nose is like a sweetened molasses. It almost smells like a syrup. Flavor is rich and thick with extremely strong malty characters. Mild molasses in a deep way. Robust, full, and lasting. Never even hints at dropping off. Feel is very thick on the liquid. Low bubble. Extremely drinkable. Well made and oh so robust. If you can get your hands on it, go for it.

The best of the bunch from Ramstein. A perfect blend, not too much of that German malted wheat nose, not hot at all for a beer this size, a beautiful near black color with no dark-roasted malt flavors.

Bottle. Dark brown with a foamy beige head. Aroma of tart berries (cassis?) with a mild baking spice note, dark bready malt and some brown sugar/molasses. Tangy malt flavors with an underripe berry tartness. Underlying sweetness of the malts are cut at the very end with a hoppy/spicy dryness. Lively carbonation. Alcohol hidden. Very good.

Bottle. Dark ruby in color, with an offwhite head. The aroma is of spice and bitter fruit. The texture is full with just enough body to feel creamy. You can detect the wheat maltiness with almost a berry like finish. Very sweet as it warms up, transitioning from a crisp hoppy character to a sweet, alcoholic, smooth flavor. Very good.

Pours black, tan head. One smell and you know that it is a wheat beer! Smooth flavor with a nice follow though. Must be the New Jersey water!

12 oz bottle purchased at the Oak. Pours a deep dark brownish/black with a thin coating of carboantion on my glass and an initial huge light tan frothy head that quickly and totally dispates. Aroma of chocolate, vinous notes and slight wheat in the back ground. Thin watery mouthfeel with slight stingy carbonation that dances around on the back of my throat. Flavor starts off with lots of vinegar and vinous qualities but moves onto a slight bitersweet chocolate that turns into total chocolate on the aftertaste. This beer has the best aftertaste that I have ever had and hides the alcohol very nicely. Interresting beer that is definitely worth trying.

Warm, glowing pour of blackened burgundy with a glow of electric red underneath. Aroma of banana, clove, almond oil; some spicy funk of sun dried tomato and dry paprika with a slippery sweetness of caramel toward the end. Salty, fruity, zesty. Bursting with sharp clove flavor and given to heavy bubblegum sweetness with hints of seared purple onions, balsamic reduction, and powdery pepper. Carbonation seems a bit reckless and impossible to restrain; medium bodied and irreparably sharp in the mouth. Faint chocolate and hazelnut precede another whisk of brisk spice in the finish . The elements are definitely in place, but the final impression is lacking in some indescribeable way. Wheat may just present a bit too strongly, enough so to suffocate the depth of malt that this style needs to properly balance it. Thanks Andrew!

Draught: Aroma of fruit, roasting, spices, and a hint of smoke. Poured black in color with a small, creamy, tan head that diminished but lasted. Opaque. No lacing. Medium sweet flavor. Flavor of spices, cloves, nutmeg, bubblegum, malts, and chocolate. Light to medium body. Thin, chalky texture. Soft carbonation. Sweet, spiced finish.