SMITHHAVENS ~ DUNKELWEIZEN

Sampled from a bottle, this beer poured cloudy dark coppery amber with a generous beige head, which quickly reduced to a film, and left some scant lacing. The nose contained caramel, ripe stone fruit, some spice, grains and a slight vinous tart quality. The taste was lighter than expected with notes of caramel, malts, ripe fruit, clove, earthiness, subtle banana esters and a light sourness. The beer had grainy malty sweetness that was cut by the tartness. There was some lingering fruit in the aftertaste with no bitterness. The carbonation was gentle, and the body felt a little watery at time. I don’t know whether the slight sourness was intentional, I would like reserve judgment on this one, until I sample another. 

5.2% from Peterborough, Ontario IBU 12

IDLESCHWEIN ~ NEUSTADT SPRINGS BREWERY

Idleschwein is a dark wheat beer, or Dunkelweizen. Dunkelweizens were traditionally brewed in the south of Germany. I enjoyed this one on draught. The beer pours a deep dark amber colour. It had minimal head, which settled to a small ring of bubbles around the edges of the glass. The nose contained lots of sweet roasted malts, Belgian yeast, pear and apple, cloves and other spice. The flavour was similar to the nose, but introduced some other flavours too. The beer had the flavours of a classic hefeweizen, with banana, Belgian yeasts, and cloves, but also had hints of other spices…. almost like a banana bread. There as quite a lot of fruitiness in this beer too, I got late season tree fruit, which added both a sweetness and a touch of tartness. The malts were sweet and tasty and added a caramely-ness. It was medium bodied and full of flavours with moderate to low carbonation. A really interesting brew, though I found this quite sweet, and the bitterness was negligible. I would gladly sip on another.
4.7% from Neustadt, Ontario