Hohenthanner: Holzhacker Hefe-Weisse Dunkel (Germany: Dunkelweizen: 5.2% ABV)
Visual: Ruddy brown. Large brown bubble mound head.
Nose: Cinnamon. Carrot. Coriander. Wheat. Malt chocolate. Light spicy nutmeg.
Body: Blood orange zest. Nutmeg. Wheaty. Light bitterness. Nutty. Sweet malt chocolate. Carrot and coriander.
Finish: Fresh lemon sharp note. Low bitterness. Wheat. Orange peel. Nutmeg. Light toffee.
Conclusion: Often I really want to enjoy a Dunkel Weisse, I really do, but so often, instead of bringing a malt load to back up the awesome weisse flavor I end up with muddy malt shitting all over everything I enjoy in a wheat beer.
Bit of an ominous start to a tasting note, no?
However, be not put off all ye intrepid beer hunters, this is one of the good ones. I think this is one of the few situations I can say no, no this is “one of the good ones” without it coming across as massively racist.
Anyway, cleverly this takes the citrus weisse flavours, but instead of that easily muddled lighter flavours you instead get strong blood orange, for the spice you get coriander and nutmeg – the elements are familiar but tweaked so to kick against the larger malt background.
Speaking of the malt back, it is a nice mix of soothing nuttiness and sweet malt, with that slight roughness of wheat character. It keeps the refreshing nature of a wheat beer, but gives a bit of a grip for the darker malt beer lover.
Another interesting quirk is a slight call to Belgian wit with a carrot and coriander set of notes, not heavily but it gives a more rustic rounding which both gives range and a balance against the fresher notes.
Overall a solid Dunkel weizen, different, rounded and making good use of both the dunkel and the weizen. A good effort in an oft ill handled style.
Background: I had to look up how to spell that. I am really, really bad at reading German lettering it seems. I haven’t had a good dunkelweizen for a while, so grabbed this from Independent Spirit when I saw it. Drunk while listening to a violin version of the Attack On Titan theme. No prizes for guessing what I’m obsessed with currently.
