I stumbled upon a style I do not see too often in the beer land, a weizenbock. It is the bigger, stronger brother of the dunkelweizen (dark wheat) usually coming in at 7% to 10% alcohol by volume. While a regular bockbier is barley based, think of this as an imperial hefeweizen in the German style beer world. German law mandates that it must be at least 50% wheat malt but can be upwards of 60% to 70%. The one I picked up was Victory’s Moon Glow. 

I am a fan of Victory’s brews including Hop Devil and Hop Ranch, so I was excited about this one.

Appearance

Pouring slightly chilled into my perfect Spaten Franziskaner Weissbier glass. It pours a nubilous tea-like color with a big egg shell head expected from a fine wheat beer. I either like my beer rich-looking like this or crystal clear with a defined hue on the dark yellow to amber spectrum. It is nice to just sit back and marvel at it.

Smell

Ripe bananas that have set out on the counter just long enough for mom’s banana bread, toasty malts, mild esters and a hint of the telltale fusel alcohols of a bock. I swirled and added the yeast at the bottom of the bottle to get the full weissbier experience, but if you are drinking it, it is entirely up to you if you want to add it keeping in mind it will alter the sapor.

Taste  

Wow! For being 8.7%, it is smooth as all get-out with a quality wheat punch up front followed by some toasty malts and warming alcohol esters in the finish. This is a wonderful brew with great flavor.

For you all that are like wheat beers, I highly recommend this but it is a true German style and does not accentuate the orange and coriander flavors like other wheat beers out there. ABC may have other examples of the style in select store like Weihenstephaner Vitus, Ayinger, or Southern Tier’s Goat Boy.

Adam Shugan, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits beer consultant - Gainesville

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