Beer of the Weekend #156: Kapuziner Bavarian Schwarz-Weizen
The beer of this glorious first weekend of college football is Kapuziner Bavarian Schwarz-Weizen, brewed by the Kulmbacher Brauerei of Kulmbach, Germany.
A special thanks goes to Zee German. He gave me tonight’s beerware, the UC Irvine weizen glass, as a parting gift my last day on campus. Prost!
Serving type: Four individually sold 500 ml bottles with swing-tops. No discernable freshness date on any of the labels, and I’m hoping this “four pack” isn’t old; a few of the bottles look a little crusty on the outside.
Appearance: Poured into a half liter weizen glass. The color is an almost opaque brown. Very thick and hazy. When held to a lamp, the edge has ruby and caramel tones to it. Dense, cappuccino-like head developed and dissipated slowly.
Smell: Standard fare for a dunkelweizen; it’s a sinister hefe. Ripe fruit dominate, especially banana and apple, and yeast and bread are big players in the aroma. As it warms, scents of caramel, cocoa, milk chocolate, and nutmeg vie for dominance.
Taste: Surprisingly stout-like, which I like a lot. Based on the initial taste it’s not even like I'm drinking a wheat. It tastes like a half coffee, half cappuccino: roasted coffee malts and whatever the hell cappuccino is made of. There is also a little cocoa or milk chocolate at play. After a few sips there is a noticeable nutmeg sweetness, which is also appreciable. The esters from the smell are almost nonexistent, and I don’t miss them. There is also a lack of hop spice, though I will say a little pepper hangs around with the aftertaste.
Drinkability: Not bad. Tastes like a cross between a hefe and a schwarzbier. Though it’s not the ideal wheat beer, especially for your ideal wheat beer occasion, this is good drinking. I would gladly buy this stuff again.
Fun facts about KBS-W:
-Style: Dunkelweizen. It’s been a while since I had a dunkelweizen, so here’s what BA has to say:
-Price: $3.99/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City. One thing I realized on my trip to Dirty’s was that Iowa needs those “DO NOT BLOCK” boxes painted on congested streets in California. The boxes allow turning drivers to enter and exit driveways or side streets that would otherwise be blocked by traffic. They need one right in front of Dirty’s driveway. Today it was blocked by cars waiting at the Market Street light, and I sat on Gilbert with my turning signal on for about two minutes. Iowa drivers are too rude and selfish to give enough space to let others through. Fuckers.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 5.4 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA suggests curried and German cuisine, nutty cheeses (Asiago, Colby, Parmesan), “General (Digestive),” and salmon. But don’t get the pink salmon. The pink salmon is the farmed salmon, and the reason it’s pink is because the fish are genetically altered to have pink flesh. Nasty.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
Go Hawks!
A special thanks goes to Zee German. He gave me tonight’s beerware, the UC Irvine weizen glass, as a parting gift my last day on campus. Prost!
Serving type: Four individually sold 500 ml bottles with swing-tops. No discernable freshness date on any of the labels, and I’m hoping this “four pack” isn’t old; a few of the bottles look a little crusty on the outside.
Appearance: Poured into a half liter weizen glass. The color is an almost opaque brown. Very thick and hazy. When held to a lamp, the edge has ruby and caramel tones to it. Dense, cappuccino-like head developed and dissipated slowly.
Smell: Standard fare for a dunkelweizen; it’s a sinister hefe. Ripe fruit dominate, especially banana and apple, and yeast and bread are big players in the aroma. As it warms, scents of caramel, cocoa, milk chocolate, and nutmeg vie for dominance.
Taste: Surprisingly stout-like, which I like a lot. Based on the initial taste it’s not even like I'm drinking a wheat. It tastes like a half coffee, half cappuccino: roasted coffee malts and whatever the hell cappuccino is made of. There is also a little cocoa or milk chocolate at play. After a few sips there is a noticeable nutmeg sweetness, which is also appreciable. The esters from the smell are almost nonexistent, and I don’t miss them. There is also a lack of hop spice, though I will say a little pepper hangs around with the aftertaste.
Drinkability: Not bad. Tastes like a cross between a hefe and a schwarzbier. Though it’s not the ideal wheat beer, especially for your ideal wheat beer occasion, this is good drinking. I would gladly buy this stuff again.
Fun facts about KBS-W:
-Style: Dunkelweizen. It’s been a while since I had a dunkelweizen, so here’s what BA has to say:
Similar to a Hefeweizen, these southern Germany wheat beers are brewed as darker versions (Dunkel means "dark") with deliciously complex malts and a low balancing bitterness. Most are brown and murky (from the yeast). The usual clove and fruity (banana) characters will be present, some may even taste like banana bread.
-Price: $3.99/bottle at John’s Grocery in Iowa City. One thing I realized on my trip to Dirty’s was that Iowa needs those “DO NOT BLOCK” boxes painted on congested streets in California. The boxes allow turning drivers to enter and exit driveways or side streets that would otherwise be blocked by traffic. They need one right in front of Dirty’s driveway. Today it was blocked by cars waiting at the Market Street light, and I sat on Gilbert with my turning signal on for about two minutes. Iowa drivers are too rude and selfish to give enough space to let others through. Fuckers.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 5.4 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: BA suggests curried and German cuisine, nutty cheeses (Asiago, Colby, Parmesan), “General (Digestive),” and salmon. But don’t get the pink salmon. The pink salmon is the farmed salmon, and the reason it’s pink is because the fish are genetically altered to have pink flesh. Nasty.
The Quiet Man’s grade: A-.
Go Hawks!
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