Weihenstephaner Korbinian

When I spent a semester in Austria, one of my regular rituals was to walk down to the local Spar and grab two things: a Milka chocolate bar and a bottle or three of Kaiser Doppelmalz. Doppelmalz was everything all the American beer I’d ever had wasn’t – dark, sweet, malty and delicious.

I’ve never found Kaiser’s Doppelmalz since coming back to the States, which might be a good thing, based on some online reviews I’ve found. (Perhaps it’s better in memory than in reality). Until now, the closest I’d ever come was the pretty damn good but not quite great Celebrator Doppelboch.

Today, on a walk with the family, we stopped into the German Gourmet, where I picked up a Milka bar, a sampler of German cold cuts (including some outstanding blood sausages, one with beef tongue, which was really tasty) and a single bottle of Weihenstephaner Korbinian. I could only get a single bottle, in fact, because for some reason it was the only one in the store. I took one look at it, and realized that the force was strong with it.

Let me just say that with this double bock beer, it was love at first taste. Suddenly, memories of Austria in the Fall of 1999 came rushing back, and I saw myself loading up on beer and chocolate for the hike back to the Kartause.

Having long-since finished the bottle, my tasting notes will be brief. Suffice to say this is a dark, thickish sort of beer with (for someone of my tastes) a nice, borderline heavy sweetness that comes through as a bit caramel and a bit molasses. There’s dark, sun-dried fruit in there too, though it’s hard to put your finger on them – dates? Figs? Raisins? Something that’s perhaps a hybrid of all three.

I can’t recommend this beer strongly enough if you like your beers dark, malty and a bit sweet. This is a new favorite of mine, and while the German Gourmet is walking distance from the house, I may need to find a supplier who’ll have more than one bottle in stock at at time.

(Total Wine & More; $2.99)

Aventinus Doppelboch

Aventinus is brewed by Georg Schneider & Sohn in Kelheim, Germany. I got talked into this one while I was at a fall beer tasting at our local Wine, Beer and Cheese shop, Red White & Bleu.

While it’s a doppelbock, it’s also a weissbier, which I don’t usually care for. All the same, I thought I’d give it a spin, because the tasting notes sounded appealing and Harry, the shop’s beer guy and co-owner, thought I might like it based on my description of what I usually drink (dark, malty, sweeter, high-alcohol beers.)

I brought it home and chilled it, and I have it in front of me right now. The notes on the bottle say:

Aventinus, the world’s classic top-fermenting wheat-doppelbock, has received accolades for the perfect balance of fruity spiciness (banana, clove, vanilla) and notes of chocolate (crystal & dark malts). Unfiltered & unpasteurized, bottle-conditioned.

The beer pours a medium, cloudy brown (normal to dark for a beer of this type). The second you put your nose in the glass, there’s no question it’s a weissbier, as you get hit with the characteristic smell of banana on the nose. There’s also a hint of sweetness in the bouquet that tends toward caramel. The mixture of the two creates sort of a toned down bananas foster aroma.

The flavor is mild, but is consistent with the aroma. There are definitely cloves on the palate, though I don’t taste the vanilla. There’s just that same hint of sweetness, even less pronounced than it is in the smell, which pushes this into a more favorable direction for me.

As weissbiers go, this one is drinkable, and with an alcohol content of 8.2%, you’d only need a couple to last you the night. I’m still not a convert, however. I’ll take malted barley over malted wheat any day.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give this beer a solid 6. If you like wheat beer, however, I could see how this one could easily become a chart-topper.