Well, at the risk of being considered an alcoholic, I've got one more beer review. I was planning on being out till late, but it turned out that the dance wasn't all that great. Oh well.
I'm sick of mediocre winter ales, so I'm changing it up. At the recommendation of Spy Dog, I picked up the Weihenstephaner Dunkel. I loved the Hefeweissbier, and he said he liked the Dunkel more. I was anxious to try it. I paid $3.19 for a 16 oz bottle, same as the light version.
The beer pours a nice cloudy brown color with the good head I've come to expect from the variety, and bottle-conditioned beers in general. Smelling it, it smells sweet and slightly of banana and clove, but mostly of the malt. Tasting it, I must confess I'm somewhat disappointed. The beer is good, but it's not as rich and complex as the Weiss. The body is solid, but the additional flavors of fruit and spice are either absent or not as pronounced. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Spy Dog here and award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. It's a good beer no doubt, but it doesn't live up to high standard of their lighter offering. I wouldn't pay the premium price this beer commands, either. The light one is worth it, but this isn't. In fact, I haven't reviewed it formally, but I think I prefer the Julius Echter Dunkel to this Dunkel, so if I'm in the mood for a Dunkel, I'll go for the cheaper Julius Echter.