Kormoran: Weizenbock (Poland: Weizen Bock: 6.6% ABV)
Visual: Caramel to dark brown. Hazy and with a moderate beiged head.
Nose: Chocolate dust. Raisins. Crushed custard cream biscuits.
Body: Fruitcake. Sour grapes. Malt chocolate. Madeira. Vinous. Raisins and banana. Walnut oil. Sour red wine.
Finish: Madeira. Raisins. Light banana. Glacier cherries. Malt chocolate. Sour red wine. Nut oil.
Conclusion: Ok, true but unfair comparison time. This really is no Aventinus. Ok, we have got that out of the way. I mean I only bring it up as, while it is not in the same league, it does play with a similar style of notes, and at a reasonably lower abv. This is no bad thing.
It plays with lovely raisins and lots of sour vinous flavor against a restrained, grounding, chocolate character. The wheat is present, but very smooth, with none of the evident almost prickle pushed to the front feel of many Weizen and Weizen Bocks. Now I like a big wheat character, but here it works quite well to be rolled around the mouth, leading to a slight nut oil sheen on the way out.
It is too easy to drink for the abv, which is both great and a bit of a curse, and it gives you a good degree of complexity with it. The malt chocolate base is maybe a bit too bit an element of the character – if it was pulled back just a bit to let the banana, raisins and cherries get more play then I think this beer would go from good to excellent.
It really does feel like a smaller Aventinus. Smaller in abv, smaller in complexity, however to be able to be compared to Aventinus, and not collapse under weight of expectations, is no mean feat. In fact it is pretty good going.
The easy to drink Weizen Bock choice, needs a bit of tweaking to reach the big times, but I’m not complaining about the existence of another quality Weizen Bock.
Background: Last of the Polish craft beers I picked up from Independent Spirit, and I saved the one I was most excited about for last. I am a huge fan of Weizen Bocks. Mainly due to Aventinus, which is one of the beers that blew my mind back in my early days. So much so, it is in fact one of the beers I picked when Independent Spirit asked my to contribute to their beer bucket list. Anyway, this was drunk while listening to some “Feed The Rhino ” – “The Sorrow and the Sound” to be exact. Thanks To Dylan Ransom for the heads up on that band.
