Leavenworth Blind Pig Dunkelweizen
Fish Brewing Company / Fishbowl Brewpub

Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Fish Brewing Company / Fishbowl Brewpub
 
Washington, United States
Style:
Dunkelweizen
ABV:
Not listed
Score:
86
Avg:
3.77 | pDev: 11.14%
Reviews:
17
Ratings:
21
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Sep 30, 2014
Added:
Aug 20, 2002
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 3.5 by Smileitsfreetobehappy from Alaska

Sep 30, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Scary_Version from Pennsylvania

Jul 15, 2013
 
Rated: 3.5 by creez from California

Apr 09, 2012
 
Rated: 5 by Abrengle from Washington

Nov 15, 2011
Photo of NeroFiddled
Reviewed by NeroFiddled from Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Leavenworth Blind Pig Dunkelweizen
12 oz bottle; no apparent freshness dating.
$1.99 at Total Wine & More, Claymont, DE

Appearance: Cloudy deep-brown body beneath a creamy head of light tan froth. The head retention is good and the lacing is decent.

Smell: Nice roasty notes right up-front with some soft chocolate and yeasty fruitiness.

Taste: Exactly as the nose suggests. The malt retains some wheat flavor, but it's also nicely chocolatey with a bit of soft roastiness. The apple-like fruitiness gives it an added dimension. Moderately bitter, it still finishes dry with some lingering malty notes.

Mouthfeel: Medium to medium-light in body. Gently crisp.

Overall: A clean, straight-forward American dunkleweizen that's pleasant and full-flavored. Nicely done!
Jun 23, 2011
Photo of barleywinefiend
Reviewed by barleywinefiend from Washington

3.18/5  rDev -15.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Poured dark and cloudy because it is unfiltered. with a brown color and a tannish head. Nose is wheat, chocolate. Taste is light booze, wheat, cocoa, banana but not to much banana. Mouthfeel is nice, cocoa finishing the end. Drinkability is just above average.
Mar 18, 2010
Photo of flagmantho
Reviewed by flagmantho from Washington

3.68/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Had this beer on-tap in a mondo 34oz mug at Canyons in Bothell, WA.

Appearance: a very cloudy, rich dark brown. Quite nice.

Smell: sweet malt, wheat and a little citrus and chocolate. What you'd expect, but nicely done.

Taste: similar to aroma: lemony wheat with hints of chocolate. Not bad at all.

Mouthfeel: medium; there's a nice carbonation and creaminess.

Drinkability: quite a satisfying little dunkel; this rather enormous serving will be enjoyable to finish.
Nov 24, 2009
Photo of nickfl
Reviewed by nickfl from Florida

3.4/5  rDev -9.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
A - Half a finger of light tan foam. The head is thick and holds on for quite a while. The body is brown and muddy.

S - Slight clove and caramel aroma with little else.

T - Banana, with some bubblegum. Malty with toasted malt and a bit of chocolate. Finishes with more chocolate and light hop bitterness.

M - Medium-thick body, moderate carbonation, and a slightly sweet finish.

D - Drinkable, but kind of lackluster. Nice malt character, but the yeast is weak and just doesn't pop. The only really bad thing about this beer is the appearance, the body is muddy and just downright ugly. I wouldn't bother with this one again, this brewery makes other, better beers.
Sep 04, 2009
Photo of JohnGalt1
Reviewed by JohnGalt1 from Idaho

3.7/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
"Blind Pig" caught my eye tonight at The Front Door.... I asked, and learned it was a Fish Brewing beer.. Sounds Good.. Poured into what I would guess would be about a 14 oz mug.

Descent tan head.. the brew is dark brown brew that appears pretty clear when held up to a light.. minor lacing...

The nose is fairly lite.. some minor chocolate and background caramel.... I would hesitate immediately to describe this as anything with some sort of German heritage.

Flavor is pretty much the same... I'm not bagging on it.. but it is not a dunkelweizen.. definitely an American Dark Wheat... some chocolate again .. a little husky.. just whaffs of caramel and only hints of caramel.. the body is lite and the drinkability is really high.. I finished the glass fairly quickly and sorta wanted another... but not enough to pay TFD prices.

Glad I figured this one out as Fish, because I probably would have passed it over.

Edit: This brew needs to be taken out of the Dunkelweizen immediately.. no where close to anything German.. it is still a tasty brew.. and don't let the current BA style fool you.
May 16, 2009
Photo of dnichols
Reviewed by dnichols from Washington

4.06/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
I was served from the tap in a pint glass at Sam's Saloon in Kennewick, Washington.

A: It had a mahogany to murkey dark brown body with a massive head that was caramel colored and sticky. The head receded slowly and there was a dense layered lacing that followed the beer down the side of the glass.

S: It had a dark doughy bread yeast aroma combined with dark roasted malts. Very sweet and pleasant.

T: It was malty and sweet with flavors of sweet ripe plums and plum black raisins.

M: It had highly active carbonation and was medium bodied. The sweet malty flavors lingered into the aftertaste.

D: It was a nice bar brew that I tested and found sufficient to stand up to a long lingering session.
Mar 28, 2008
Photo of livingregret
Reviewed by livingregret from Washington

3.83/5  rDev +1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Serving Type: On Tap in Leavenworth

Appearance: A dark hazy brown w/ a health 1 finger head and tons of lacing.

Smell: Toffy...wheat...caramel. The smell doesn't come through very strongly

Taste: Slightly earthy w/ Caramel, roasted grain and plenty of toffee. Very nice

Mouthfeel: Went down smooth. Can't say a whole lot about the mouthfeel not a whole lot there

Drinkability: Well I ended up having 3 of these from tap and my fiancee had 2 for herself. Very good...goes down easy and taste pretty good and the price was great. What's not to like?
Sep 11, 2007
Photo of Slatetank
Reviewed by Slatetank from Pennsylvania

3.6/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Served in a 10oz pilsner glass cold
A - Hazy and medium dark brown with a healthy tan head.

S - Toffee, nuts and wheat with a dry cereal aroma

M - Full, creamy and nutty with a sweet finish

T - Chocolate malt and wheat flavors with a very mild weizen flavor. This ale mainly tastes like a dark wheat ale w/o much German yeast character.

D - An easy drinking wheat with good dark ale tastes and a hint of wheat. Not true to the Dunkel style necessarily, but full flavored and I wouldn't hesitate to order this again
Jun 24, 2007
Photo of Gavage
Reviewed by Gavage from Nevada

3.34/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Appearance: hazy and brown in color with a 1" off-white colored head. Thick lacing paints the glass.

Smell: barely anything detectable by the nose, just a hint of malt sweetness.

Taste: grainy wheat, caramel candy, prunes, and a bit of pepper bite. Alcohol was slightly noticeable. Mild bitterness rounds it out.

Mouthfeel: crisp fro start to finish. The aftertaste is short with the grainy tones. Medium bodied.

Drinkability: Not too bad but some of the refreshing qualities I expected were not there. Worth a try but not overly exciting.
Jul 25, 2006
Photo of Derek
Reviewed by Derek from Canada (BC)

4.03/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
For only 4% ABV, this beer has substantial flavour & surprising mouthfeel (moderate).

Although it is unfiltered, it doesn't appear murky like some Hefe's.

Some chocolately fruit odour.

Bitterness is not apparant, but it is balanced to the slighly sweet side, with hints of caramel, chocolate & wheat. Perhaps the "Count Chocula" of beer?

Hops: I expected some Pacific Northwest flavour, but there isn't any. This is more like a German brew, with the slightly spicy tettnanger hops providing only a hint of flavour.

Quality session beer!
Aug 09, 2005
Photo of carln26
Reviewed by carln26 from Missouri

3.58/5  rDev -5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
I had this on tap in a pint glass at the Fish Bowl in Olympia. It poured a dark brown color with ruby highlights, and a slight head with light lace. The nose had a pronounced smoky aroma, hints of toasted grain with a mildly sweet malty back. The taste reinforced the smoke and roasted grain. It didn’t exhibit the sweetness I expected. Very much a porter in its flavor profile (except for the lack of oily slickness). Light mouth feel decent drinkability.
Dec 05, 2004
Photo of beertaster13
Reviewed by beertaster13 from Washington

3.65/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This is a good dunkel. Pours a dark brown with hints of ruby streaks. The head was a nice cream froth, lacing coated the glass. The smell was of cherry and deep roasted wood, toast and toffee chunks. The taste was a nice deep chocolate covered cherry taste with loads of toffee chunks, a nice toasted grain and wheat linger, yeast was present, medium to thick with a nice feel, good winter warmer. I could sit down with a few of these, goes great with a nice chunk of meat.
Oct 09, 2004
Photo of woemad
Reviewed by woemad from Washington

4.13/5  rDev +9.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
I had a pint on-tap at The Elk in Spokane for $3.75.

The color was a mocha shade of brown. The head was large and light tan. Lots of lacing.

Smell was of wheat, caramel, milk chocolate, and a little bit of coffee bitterness. The wheat was what first jumped out at me, but the caramel-chocolate sweetness and coffee bitterness wasn't far behind.

The taste is of rough wheatiness followed by a sweetness reminiscent of toffee, intermingled with a coffeeish bitterness. The wheatiness jumped out at me more than any hefeweizen has in recent memory.

I really don't drink enough wheat beers to know the style all that well. The mouthfeel seemed good, but I don't know the style well enough to be certain.

This went down very easily. I could have had several more had I not been curious about some of the other offerings at the Elk. Next time I am near Olympia (which doesn't happen often) I will definitely stop by the Fishbowl and indulge in some fish and Leavenworth beers.
Apr 12, 2004
Photo of RedDiamond
Reviewed by RedDiamond from Oregon

2.98/5  rDev -21%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
Though dunkelweizens can be among the most complex of beers, Fish's version, by way of Leavenworth, is notable for its mundane character and restraint. The yeasts deliver no esters, no aroma and no exotica. Instead, wheat malts come across as dry and sharp with a light but lingering bitter tail. Blind Pig is the color of a UPS truck though slightly more translucent and shows thready lace.

I've already expressed elsewhere my hangup about American wheat beers hiding behind the German nomenclature "hefeweizen". Extending this same concept to dunkelweizens is equally pointless. Blind Pig is a dark American wheat beer, not a dunkelweizen. In that sense, it fails to meet expectations and comes across as disappointing.

It's worth commenting on the name however. Prior to the onset of prohibition, many smaller, localized laws were passed restricting the sale of alcohol. A common way of circumventing these was to charge admission to an event or attraction in which beer would be served for "free" after admission had been paid. A popular ruse was to charge money to see "the blind pig." "Blind pig" would later become synonymous with "speakeasy."
Mar 26, 2004
Photo of RoyalT
Reviewed by RoyalT from Michigan

3.82/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Appearance – This was dark brown in color and extremely carbonated. I had this on-tap so was unable to gauge the head since the glass was filled to the top. They had just set the tap and this was the first pour from the keg, so the carbonation was extremely active.

Smell – The dark yeast aroma dominated the nose of this one, as it should. This was much better than their hefe (reviewed separately).

Taste – The promise from the nose didn’t quite come out at the taste, but this was good nevertheless. The yeast was there but subdued.

Mouthfeel – This was terrifc! The super-live carbonation made this medium-bodied weizen fluffy and filling.

Drinkability – This actually went well with the ribs that I was eating. They came a lot closer to an authentic German Dunkles Weizen than most.
Dec 23, 2003
Photo of zacharius
Reviewed by zacharius from Washington

3.96/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
I had this on tap at the Fishbowl brewpub, they brew these Leavenworth beers there in Olympia. I'm not sure if there is even a Leavenworth brewery anymore.

This beer is unfiltered, dark and cloudy. This beer pours up a light brown head that lasted throughout the beer. This beer has almost no smell, just a little maltyness. There are no aroma hops detected but I think that this is typical of the style. Although this beer is dark, it is very drinkable and great for chasing down lunch with.
Mar 04, 2003
Leavenworth Blind Pig Dunkelweizen from Fish Brewing Company / Fishbowl Brewpub
Beer rating: 86 out of 100 with 21 ratings