Weyerbacher Eighteen
With their anniversary celebrations, Weyerbacher has released versions of beer genres that push that style’s boundaries. Whether it’s an over-the-top wheatwine like Fourteen or last year’s potent saison, the company has always brewed up big, full-flavored beers for these annual releases. Weyerbacher Eighteen is right in line with that thinking.
This 11.1% ABV Weizenbock is brewed with a myriad of German malts (Wheat, Munich, Pils, Carawheat and Chocolate wheat) and a dash of Belgian yeast. The result is a big beer that carries the dark fruits of a Belgian dubbel with the smooth character that all of that wheat brings to the party. I enjoyed this brew, but I still think that the wheatwine Weyerbacher released a couple of years ago is still my favorite.
Appearance
Weyerbacher Eighteen pours an extremely dark brown in color with a smallish cap of light tan foam.
Aroma
This beer has a great nose on it as hints of wheat, burnt caramel, raisin, peppery yeast and light alcohol all mix together wonderfully.
Taste
The flavors pretty much follow the nose with the addition of a little anise/licorice late in the warming finish. A strong wheat backbone carries fig, raisin, alcohol and caramel smoothly over the tongue with a rather viscous body. This is a big beer.
Overall
As with all of their anniversary releases, Weyerbacher Eighteen has a large amount of warming alcohol fueling it. I definitely like the dark fruits that shine throughout the beer’s time in the glass, but think that a little time in the basement to mellow out the booziness is definitely in order. Other than that, it’s a pretty darn good way to celebrate another year in business.
Rating: 3.75/5
