OK, you’re probably tired by now of hearing me say that double bock beers are my favorite style. Well, they are, and you’ll just have to deal with it. And of course, such beers don’t always have to be made exclusively with barley malt. Indeed, even the normally discriminating Germans, who generally forbid anything in their beer except barley malt, water, yeast, and hops in their beer and have a nearly 500 year old law to prove it, occasionally enjoy a wheat beer.

And, much to my delight, they even make wheat bocks, too. How wonderful is that? American microbrewers, always looking for another style to brew up, sometimes offer up a wheat bock too. So, when I spied a four-pack of Heavy Seas Hang Ten Weizen Doppelbock, you know I just had to scoff it up.

Heavy Seas beers are brewed by Baltimore’s Clipper City Brewery, and they have a reputation for taking a style and kicking it up a notch. Or two. That’s certainly the case here. I bought mine at the edge of it’s stated shelf life (the notch on the bottle tells me to buy it before the end of March, 2008). Still, I know that heavily fortified beers like this will last for while, assuming they haven’t sat in a display in the liquor store’s window.

Heavy Seas Hang Ten Weizenbock pours to a cloudy dark ruby color with a thin and short-lived head formation and a very spicy nose of banana, clove, and vanilla on the good side, with maybe a hint of phenolic band-aid aroma on the not so good. When I sip I like what I taste, a firm layer of chewy chocolate-caramel with layers of tart, crackery wheat, more of the banana, come spicy clove and vanilla, and fruity, cidery apple and pear, especially in the finish, which caps off nicely like a bit of a gooey caramel apple. Some robust raisin pokes its head through, too.

Wheat beers are rarely known for their hoppiness, and Hang Ten is no exception there. But there is a lot of warming alcohol in the finish, and that serves to dry the beer out nicely. Indeed, Hang Ten is even more potent than the legendary Schneider Aventinus, weighing in at 10% alcohol by volume for the former against 8.2% for the latter.

That said, I still prefer the Aventinus, and at $8 a four-pack, the Hang Ten isn’t much cheaper than the $3.50 or so a half liter of the former will set you back. Still, this is a solid brew, and one I would cheerfully buy again.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft



Home