A dark wheat beer. Is that an oxymoron? Yin and yang. Weiss and Dunkel. Ebony and ivory*. No, that’s a Dunkelweizen. According to Erdinger this is a specialty beer for connoisseurs**. I guess that makes any one of us who shop for craft beer at the LCBO a connoisseur. I’ve been called worse.
I must admit, I thought this was a German dark lager so I bought this by mistake. So much for the connoisseur designation. I thought the term dunkel was specific to a German dark lager. I should have known better after seeing Erdinger Weibbier on the label but it never dawned on me that a dark wheat beer, a dunkelweizen, even existed. Always learning.
It is a dark, very heady pour. Ominous, not foreboding, but perhaps foreshadowing. A middling roasted malt aroma. The heady pour settled nicely. An interesting first taste, mild malt, a dark stranger but not mysterious. A foamy mouthfeel to match up with the heady pour which when combined with the wheat base makes for a milder body than a dark lager, but more flavour than a wheat beer. The foaminess of this brew persisted until the last and made it quite filling as well.
I think we are in “no persons land”*** here. If you are a wheat beer fan this may be a touch too much for you. If you are a lager fan you will be wondering why the subdued flavour. It is unique and I enjoyed it. Does that make me a connoisseur?
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