Pikantus is definitely a dunkel (dark) doppelweizen. It might even be darker than Aventinus. The head is quick to form and somewhat slow to recede, and carbonation appears ample. There is a strange sediment of sorts under the bottle cap and along the side of the bottle, almost as if it was stored upside down at some point.
The aroma is surprisingly muted for a doppelweizen. Faint clove-like phenols mingle with
something vaguely resembling caramel or coco. Pikantus smells pretty boring actually. The flavor gets things back on track a bit. Wheat bread and crackers mix with cloves and
various other opaque phenols. I’m pretty
sure the barley malts are some kind of Munich variety, it’s got that classic
bready coarseness to it that some of the darker German beers have (especially
doppelbock). Caramel makes an appearance
but it is pretty faint. The taste of alcohol
is unfortunately not faint, but it isn’t a huge burden on the taste buds. The classic banana esters that virtually all
weissbiers have are almost nowhere to be found, just the classic clove
spiciness and some wheat.
Pikantus feels strangely dry and its acidity is a touch high. The finish in particular has a lingering dryness normally unassociated with weissbier. Nonetheless, Pikantus is just as fluffy as
most German wheat beers, so the texture is by no means a failure.
Better than a fair amount of American takes on German
wheat beers, but this still isn’t one I will reach for regularly. I prefer less alcohol and more esters in my weizenbiers.
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