Les Trois Mousquetaires - Weizenbock
-
ABV:
10.5% -
Serving Temperature:
50-55° F -
Suggested Glassware:
Flute, Weizen Glass
For how endearing weizenbocks can be, there are so few of them. They’re often overlooked in the extreme-beer lens, if only because they don’t generate quite the immediate impact of, say, a double IPA’s bitterness or the deep roast of an imperial stout. But weizenbocks can be impactful in their own way, combining the best elements of a German-style hefeweizen with the strength and deeper malts of a bock. They make for comforting, cold-weather sippers.
Les Trois Mousquetaires’ Weizenbock is one of the finest we’ve ever sampled, with complex aromatics and a deft layering of flavors. This pours a deep golden-brown, almost the color of maple syrup, with a bit of viscosity to it. There’s some body here, for sure, and some residual sugars. The off-white head readily dissipates, leaving the dark nectar beneath it. The aromas, combining aspects of German hefeweizen yeast and the rich maltiness of a doppelbock, spill out of the glass. There are plump raisins, dried caramel, fruit leather. A nice balance is struck by the accompanying yeast-based notes, offering clove and pepper. Everything’s well tuned.
Let’s emphasize one thing first: allow this to warm up a bit from fridge temperature. It’s the nature of certain beers (we’re looking at you, dark Swedish stouts) to come across as being a bit skewed if served too cold. This beer becomes a lot more balanced with just a few minutes to warm. After those few minutes… it’s a velvety soft elixir on the tongue. Dried dark fruits, caramel (with a welcome touch of oxidation), cola, and even some rich red fruitiness, almost berry-like. The pleasant bitterness of white pepper and cloves helps steer things, and, even at 10.5% ABV, the alcohol stays quietly tucked away. Even approaching room temperature this remained smooth. The carbonation is pretty light here, appropriately tuned to the bulk of the beer it’s supporting, and this just feels like the kind of beer you want in a snifter by the fire.
We expect this offering to age well for upward of a year or more, if not longer. There’s just a bit of well-placed oxidation right now; keep an eye on stored bottles to see if they’re getting overly heavy on the dried caramel. Think of it as an excuse to pop one. (That’s what we do.) This should do excellent things alongside smoked hams and roasted meats, pork particularly.
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