Reviews of MY brews

Hey readers. Following the lead of such exemplary beer bloggers as The Mad Fermentationist and Ryan Brews, I have decided to start publishing critical reviews of my own beers. I think that this will really help to make me a better brewer and bring my beer into the next level of excellence. I also think that, given my fall 2010 semester hobby of reviewing commercial beers on this blog, this is a perfect way to bring it all together. Like TMF and RB, I may review my beers a couple of times to give readers an idea of how the beers are progressing over time. So without further ado, I present to you my first review of Der Winterweizen, my weizenbock that is now two months in the making:
Appearance: beer pours a dark, chestnut brown with a finger of creamy off-white head that fades slowly into a smaller, but very lingering one; some nice lacing; a little bit of haze (though hardly noticeable the beer's so dark) because it's a wheat beer aww yeah

Aroma: mmm spiced dark fruit-dates, figs, raisins- is the first noticeable aspect; beautiful banana esters/alcohol coming through; a light caramel and cocoa smoothness; truly wonderful and interestingly close to a Belgian abbey ale such as a dubbel

Flavor: lovely sweetness and smooth caramel give way to a light banana flavor and lots of dark fruit esters with a very mild but present hop brightness and a dry, slightly bitter cocoa finish

Mouthfeel: very silky with fine-bubbled medium-high carbonation; relatively full-bodied which was exactly what I was looking for and is a miracle given that I was working with a totally new system

Overall: Waiting for this beer required some patience for sure, but boy was it worth it. I will absolutely brew this again in early fall to be enjoyed in late fall/early winter. Honestly, given the wonderful complexity of this beer, the turnaround time of two months isn't bad at all! Hard to say right now, but this might be my second favorite beer that I've ever made (first of course being the BowThai).

Original Winterweizen brew day post from 1/31/11