Better Know a Beer Style: German Weizenbock

Style: 15C German Weizenbock
This style is based off the concept of a dark wheat beer brewed to a bock or doppelbock strength (6.5%+). Aventinus was the first boppelbock wheat beer, brewed in 1907 by Schneider.

It has a rich, malt-centered aroma of bock-like melanoidins (tastes like licorice I think) and bready malts combined with powerful dark fruit like raisins, plums, or grapes. Hops aroma and flavor should be absent.

The proper appearance is dark amber to a ruby-brown with a thick, mousse-like head of tan bubbles. It will also be cloudy do in part to the high-protein nature of wheat beers and the rousing of the bottle's yeast when serving.

Naturally, the flavor follows the aroma with dark fruit and bock-like malts and wheat. The yeast might also produce other German wheat beer flavors such vanilla, banana, and clove. The bready wheat flavor should be enhanced by large quantities of Vienna and/or Munich malts and be sweet on the palate, sometimes with hints of cocoa. Overall, yeast, malt, and wheat should dominate the flavor with no hops, DMS (vegetable aroma), or buttery diacetyl.

The body will be medium to thick, with moderate to high carbonation. There should also be a creamy feel and warming sensation from the alcohol while drinking.

At least half of the malt bill should be wheat, and it can go up to 70% wheat, with the remainder being Munich/Vienna type malts. A decoction mash (boiling the grains) adds appropriate body and flavor without cloying sweetness. Only a small amount of noble hops are to be used for a balancing bitterness.

OG: 1.064-1.080+
FG: 1.015-1.022
IBU: 15-30
SRM: 12-25
ABV: 6.5-8%+

Case Study: Ramstein Winter Wheat
I don't know, this seems a lot of their classic wheat beer to me without much difference. It looks a nice dark brown with tan head and lacing in my pint glass. The aroma and flavor have a strong, earthy character, which is cool, but not normal for the style. Beyond that I found undertones of orange and banana with bigger cocoa and roasted/toasted wheat and malt. This seems more like some hybrid of the weizenbock and an imperial porter. The dark fruit flavors are missing. Unusual flavor aside, the element of this beer that really struck me was the sheer drinkability. It hid the alcohol perfectly and offered a medium body that could easily be mistaken for a much weaker beer.

Overall, not my favorite in terms of flavor for the style, but it's something different and very easy to drink.