Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel - Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan

JohnnyDuvel

Florida

4.5/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Dee- licious! I thought I had already reviewed this one. A local store owner gave me a nice Weihenstephan glass, so I bought a dunkel for the occasion. What a tasty beer. Reminds me a lot of Aventinus, without the extra kick. Banana flavor stands out, some clove spice - but not too much. Pours a huge, foamy head with good retention. Nice full mouthfeel. Refreshing and crisp. This will be a regular for me. Great brewery, great beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-01-2003 05:19:30 | More by JohnnyDuvel

TinusTime

Virginia

4/5  rDev -6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours the colour of cola- with a nice fluffy tan head that lingers around like shaving cream. The scent if redolant with weak cocoa and banana bread smells. The taste is as it smells with the addition of the nice spicy clove like finish found in hefe's. Mouthfeel is pleasant and smooth. A very drinkable beer on a nice mild summers day. Would go really good with some sauerbraten with red cabbage and potatoes

Serving type: bottle

09-11-2003 20:59:43 | More by TinusTime

ADR

Pennsylvania

4.35/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Cocoa-colored deep brown appearance, hazy, and a puffy tan head of good lasting power. Nice and simple, but complete, lace. Malty aroma, slight chocolate and an attractive ester balance. Very nice mouthfeel, creamy and pudding-like with a sweet chocolate malt impression with just a hinty of fleshy fruit. The aroma that "damps" some Dunkelweiss brews is more complimentary here. Yeast appears slose to the finish, giving added texture and more fruit. Not a favorite style, but among the best in style in my opinion.

Serving type: bottle

09-10-2003 18:42:30 | More by ADR

moulefrite

Massachusetts

4.25/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This was my first ever of the style. And, as this is probably my favorite regular Hefe, I could not wait to try this. I was intrigued from the start with the beers typical fluffy white head that was accompanied by a nice nut brown color. The lacing was ample and remained throughout. The aromatics favored the malty side, more so that the regular. The mouthfeel was both creamy and cleansing-which is what I like about the regular hefe! In the mouth I found this beer very similar to the regular hefe, yet with a punch of heath bar toffee. Some banana and clove chimed in as well, yet more subdued than the regular. On the finish a rich maltiness prevails. The beer is nicely refreshing and offers rich malty, grainy, bready flavors on the finish. A spectacular selection to try on tap at an Octoberfest with your favorite sausage or German snack of choosing.

Serving type: bottle

09-05-2003 01:24:15 | More by moulefrite

EagleTalon

Arkansas

4/5  rDev -6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours to a frothy, gassy, explosive head that leaps out of the glass and all over the table. Cloudy brown-amber color. Aroma is comprised of alcohol, phenolic yeast and sharp wheat malt. Flavor is crisp, tart and yeasty with noticable clove and banana intermingled with warm alcohol. Finishes dry and refreshing. A very good dunkel-weissbier.

Serving type: bottle

09-01-2003 19:24:49 | More by EagleTalon

UncleJimbo

Massachusetts

3.98/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

This dunkel weissbier poured a cloudy, brown color with creamy, light tan foam. The smell was mild and malty with a slight sweetness and faint fruitiness. The taste was slightly sweet and malty with notes of wheat and yeast. Very little fruity ester flavors. The mouthfeel was very smooth and creamy with medium body and low carbonation. Very low hop presence. A nicely enjoyable weiss bier.

Serving type: bottle

08-22-2003 07:55:06 | More by UncleJimbo

nomad

Kansas

4.65/5  rDev +9.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

With a furious action on the pour, amazing to watch, it poured a light chestnut color with impossible amounts of carbonation flying up inside. Created a pocky and cavernous, cream/khaki-colored head, huge and swiss cheese-like. Quite a beer to behold, as all Weihenstephan's are.

Smelled of bananas foster, as big banana scents mix with alcohol and roasty sugar/syrup notes. Also had a strange cleaning fluid smell that many dunkels have. Taste was sweet, of bananas and yogurt (in that both are sweet and slightly lactic sour), a spot roasty in the middle, and creamy at the end. The sour flavor cleared my palette, keeping my tongue fresh, which was nice. Tasted very fresh, active, and complex. Highly drinkable, a perfect mouthfeel, outstanding given it’s a style that I don’t care for.

Serving type: bottle

08-08-2003 16:58:06 | More by nomad

ZAP

Minnesota

4.78/5  rDev +12.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

An outstanding dunkel...the best I have had thus far......pours a deep orangeish amber....with a nice white head...nose is fresh, sweet apples, banana, and a light caramel note....body is medium...very charged up in the mouth...this is a beer that justs "feels" like a great beer as you drink it....extremely tasty but very, very drinkable.....the taste has a restrained sweetness that is just fantastic....This has to border on Weizen doppelbock land....the taste profile is caramel sweetness...accentuated by soft layered flavors of banana, and cloves.....

This is an awesome beer....maybe the best wheat beer I have ever tried to date..I will seek this out and buy many more...

Serving type: bottle

08-06-2003 04:29:00 | More by ZAP

PhantomVodoo

Ohio

4.05/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Cloudy caramel brown in color. Light tan head.
Yeasty aroma with bits of clove and banana. Good dose of caramel malt mixed in.

Taste shows a smooth, roasty, caramel malt flavor. Hop balance and wheat give the beer some crispness. Yeast notes mixed in.

Good mouthfeel is somewhat creamy.
Good drinkability.

Overall, a good dunkel hefeweizen.

Serving type: bottle

08-01-2003 04:13:35 | More by PhantomVodoo

aracauna

Georgia

4.28/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

This is swank beer. Not up to Aventinus standards, but damn near close (yes I realize they are different styles). Just a tad darker than Schneider Weiss -- cloudy tarnished copper. Big meringue head, the kind where bubble pop and a leave a permanent pit. The aroma, in addition to some of the typical aromas had this aroma I associate with stilton cheese. It's not a cheesiness, but that aroma that I can't really describe but think of as a smokey earthiness. Great hefe flavors, a bit milder than I prefer (I'm a Schneider Weiss aficionado) but this is made up by the darker malt flavors. A bit like caramel and bananas. Great, elegant beer.

Serving type: on-tap

07-28-2003 16:15:45 | More by aracauna

Brent

Kentucky

2.68/5  rDev -37.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

I can't believe I'm giving this beer relatively low marks, since the other beers I've had from the brewery have been very good. Perhaps I expected too much. Poured a hazy ice tea brown. Not a lot of aroma. Mild banana yeast esthers jumped up at the front, but then surrendered to nondescript sweet yeast flavors. Did not detect a lot of wheat malt, which was surprising for a dark wheat.

Serving type: bottle

07-25-2003 14:31:05 | More by Brent

bditty187

Nebraska

4.35/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Murky, multi-shaded brown/dark amber with a massive, three finger’s worth of off-white head. Excellent retention. Minimal lace. Almost perfect Hefeweizen nose (spicy, yeasty, clove) then sprinkle in hints of caramel malt… what an invitation! The potency is a touch light, oh well. Very tasty palate, well balanced with pepper, clove, and spice upfront… yeastiness and apples (briefly) in the middle… the end is softly caramel, distant maltiness… the aftertaste is softly peppery and provoking carbonation that tickles your tongue… loiters on the dry side, rather clean. Medium body. Exceedingly drinkable! This is a great dark wheat ale, my high expectations were easily met… if you see the name Weihenstephaner on the label, buy it! As for this one, recommended.

Serving type: bottle

07-23-2003 18:44:11 | More by bditty187

TheDM

Indiana

2.73/5  rDev -35.9%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

An initially large off-white head that almost overflowed the glass with moslty fine bubbles. This wheat beer was not one of my favorite, but more or less middle of the road for me. There was no strong after taste, but the taste did linger for a long time.

Serving type: bottle

06-26-2003 17:11:12 | More by TheDM

tavernjef

Minnesota

4.53/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Color is what I compare to the river water of the Mississippi on a good day. It looks like what its suppose to for a dark hefe, one ugly ass murky brown. The top was super fluffy and tall, nearly two inches of fluffy frothyness, liked whipped coffee cream, crumbles slowly to a fine small head that never leaves. Lace is everywhere, some sticks, some drips, mostly patches with some strings.
Smell is quite simple yet very nice, soft and light airy lemon, some maltness, a bit musty and a touch of banana and spice.
Taste is a nice mellow lemon flavor, easy tartness, balanced nicely with darker malts and wheat, a bit of breadish dryness, touch of banana and spice in there, smooth the entire gulp. Nice open and mellow medium body feel, mostly midway action then thins out nicely in the finish leading it to be drinkable beyond comprehension. One excellent, fine beer to drink any Ol' time, but favors the warmth of summer.

Serving type: bottle

06-23-2003 06:39:51 | More by tavernjef

NeroFiddled

Pennsylvania

4.5/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Wow! What a beer! It offers all of the flavors and aromas of the standard Weihenstephaner weizen with the addition of a light caramel note. It pours a cloudy, tawny brown body with a full head of creamy off-white foam. Soft banana, light clove-like spice, light brown sugar and apples appear in the nose. The body is medium and it appears initially crisp and then creamy across the palate due to its very fine and effervescent natural carbonation. Gentle spice appears first in the flavor; followed by a soft maltiness that's just slightly tangy and backed by gentle fruitiness (bananas, apples). It's very well-balanced by an underlying bitterness, and it finishes with a lingering note of nutty malt and some drying clove-like yeastiness. Refreshing but full of flavor. Exceptional!

Serving type: bottle

06-19-2003 15:45:21 | More by NeroFiddled

DESTRO

Nevada

4.5/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

i love the hefe-weissebier, figured this would be good too. pours a beautiul dark amber color with a nice medium white head. reduces a bit, but a nice small head stays and laces the glass nicely throughout the drinking session. smells of wheat, clove and a bit of spice, and pretty much tastes the same. not quite as "wheaty" as the normal hefe, but is a little heavier and fruitier tasting, reminds be of a mix between the hefe and the korbinian? i dont know. finishes a bit dry and the mouthfeel is great. good carbonation that just feels great on the toungue. this stuff is great.

Serving type: bottle

06-03-2003 22:26:04 | More by DESTRO

AudioGilz

Pennsylvania

4.53/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

It's muddy brown and lighter brown on the edges. The head is huge and laces well. The aroma is a direct early look into the flavors; of which include banana, chocolate, yeast, lemon, clove, spice, toasted malt.....very awesome and refreshing brew with crisp carbonation. It's kind of like a mellow chocolate covered banana with lemon zest to boot. Awesome stuff.

Serving type: bottle

05-27-2003 21:21:26 | More by AudioGilz

BierReise

Florida

4.1/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

German wheat beer is probably my favorite style if I absolutely had to choose one and Weihenstephaner is one of the great breweries of germany. That said, I find this dark wheat to be exceptional in flavor and quality. Beautiful dark brown with standard huge wheat head of froth. Smell is sweet and malty with a definite yeast presence. Full of wheat flavor that is sweet and malty. Full bodied and ultra smooth on the palate.

Serving type: bottle

05-22-2003 16:21:31 | More by BierReise

oberon

North Carolina

4.03/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I have been looking for a good beer in this style striking out a few times but I hit the jackpot with this one.Poured a rich brown/copper color with big blooming head.Smelled of caramel and toffee with come faint smokiness to it as well.Pretty nutty flavor with some fresh tartness in there,pretty complex and rewarding.Should have known this was the brewer who would get this beer right.

Serving type: bottle

05-08-2003 09:43:33 | More by oberon

jeffboo

Minnesota

4.53/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Ah, summer's around the corner and the hefe weizens will be pouring on out of the breweries. Here's a bottle of one of the best, this one's a slightly tan color ( not as dark as most dunkelweizens) with the traditional big hefe foam. The aroma is huge! Lots of clove,banana cream, a hint of chocolate and spices. The flavor is malty and sweet with bubblegum,clove,more banana cream with a little yeast tangyyness on the tongue. It is lighter body with lots of carbonation at first with a creaminess as it settles. I like the flavor but the darker grains don't show themselves well in this one like others of this ilk. It is a very refreshing beer that's getting my groove on for the warmer months ahead.

Serving type: bottle

04-08-2003 18:40:26 | More by jeffboo

darklager

Ohio

4.15/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

This beer pours a rich, creamy, bronze color with a rather large white head. During the pour, yeast is seen diving from the bottle and splashing gleefully into the glass, which makes me pause and reminisce about my last batch of homebrew which unfortunately is no longer with us. The aroma is a fruity caramel scent which is quite pleasing to the nasal passages. The taste is pretty sweet with almost a caramel taste to it. While it wasn't exactly love at first taste with this beer, by the time the bottle was finished, we had warmed to each other quite nicely. Now I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

Serving type: bottle

04-06-2003 08:59:22 | More by darklager

marburg

Michigan

4.4/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours the brown color of a deep, brown wood stain with a surprisingly white, rocky head. The taste is a standout on this beer. Reminds me of some sort of citrus-inspired yule log -- that is, lemon and caramel-chocolate intermingle. A perfect play of the wheat with a sweeter, fruity malt flavor. Just a great-tasting brew.

Serving type: bottle

04-02-2003 18:45:24 | More by marburg

Scooter77

Ohio

3.5/5  rDev -17.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a hazy brown/copper color with a huge rocky head. Head retention is great, it lasts until the last drop. The aroma is full of malted goodness mixed with a hint of cocoa and toffee. The taste is an exceptional medley of malt, hops, vanilla, and bananas. This is a great medium bodied beer from the folks at Weihenstephaner.

Serving type: bottle

03-31-2003 06:35:21 | More by Scooter77

WMBierguy

Maryland

5/5  rDev +17.4%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

My favorite style beer from my favorite brewery. Great flavor, great color.A slightly stronger taste than an average Weiss beer, and the typically rich Wiehenstephaner quality.Anyone who likes Weiss beers would love this beer, and I suggest that they try it as soon as they can get their hands on this semi hard to find beer.

Serving type: bottle

03-10-2003 22:10:20 | More by WMBierguy

cokes

Wisconsin

4.35/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Muddied amber-brown with an ample beige top.
Apple pie, clove, and pepper on the nose.
Taste begins with the chalky yeast joining with the husky wheat flavors. Turns into the apple pie essence as promised by the nose. Loads of pepper, and quantatively smaller hues of clove. Touches of chocolate-coated banana follow to round things out. Lingering impressions of lemon.
Firm, yet soft medium body. And a dunkel drinkability that has not been surpassed in my experience.

Serving type: bottle

03-10-2003 13:56:13 | More by cokes