Baron Über Weisse

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

A fairly solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass yields an almost three-finger thick, lightly browned, dark tan colored head. The beer is quite dark, almost black with perhaps a touch of purple / brown to it; when held up to the light the beer shows a lightly hazy, dark plum-purple color. As I pour this the characteristic Weizen notes of banana and clove are noticed, but are wrapped up in a rich, sweet, caramelized malt character. A more focused look at the aroma does not seem quite as decadent and produces scents of toasted / roasted grain, a touch of raisin, some acidic burnt grain notes, a touch of Dr. Pepper and some light prune. The aroma is a bit less rich than I had hoped, but is still pretty decent.

Lightly tart up front, but then gets even more tart through the finish as an acid character from the roast malt kicks in. The beer is quite dry with almost zero sweetness and the body is even pretty darn light; this drinks like a beer that is far lower in alcohol. The roast malt plays a pretty big role here with notes of cold black coffee, well toasted grain, a touch of burnt chocolate and some bitter roast grain. At times flavors of banana are noticeable in almost a phantom like way; it comes and goes and seems to be more induced by the aroma than the flavor. There is actually some sweetness here that is accentuated by flavors of prune / plum, clove and banana, but it gets so quickly overwhelmed by the acidic, roast grain character that it is too fleeting to be really enjoyed.

I don't think this is infected (being so dry and tart one might think that), as it does not really have any off flavors. It is quite an interesting interpretation of the style though, one that just doesn't quite work for me. I would really like to see more rich malt / grain character here, a bit of sweetness (though not too much) would also help to balance the roast character that comes off as a bit too harsh here. In a word, unbalanced. Not horrible though, as all the right flavors seem to be here, just not at the right level / intensity.

Purchased: Liquid Solutions