Next Act Cask Night – Alley Kat Bananas Foster Dunkelweizen
Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Venue: Next Act
Brewery: Alley Kat
Beer: Bananas Foster Dunkelweizen
Category: Dunkelweizen
ABV: estimated 5.00% (they didn’t tell us!)
Brewed in: Canada (Edmonton, AB)
The beer was given a lovely introduction by Jeff from Sherbrooke who was the brain behind the bananas foster idea.
It came straight from the cask tap to our table with a few potential stops on the way for it’s brethren to be delivered to their new homes. No more than a minute or two.
It arrived with a very thin layer of head so I can only assume that retention wasn’t very long. The beer was a hazy milk chocolate brown with tan head. I can see the color better in my picture as there was limited lighting at the pub.
I had a hard time identifying much in the aroma given the setting. I really just smelt some generic graininess. There is a sweet touch to it.
The taste was initially sweet up front with hints of banana. I presume this is the effect of the wheat and/or yeast used in the beer. The sweetness was balanced nicely by some bitter hops. The overall taste was quite sweet and I believe it is brown sugar I am picking up on. It is quite tasty and the hops do well to balance this out. Otherwise it might have been just too sweet.
Mouthfeel was smooth and carbonation was moderate. Even with agitation the carbonation wasn’t producing any head to speak of.
A tasty treat at cask night but I wouldn’t be drinking it regularly as I wouldn’t be able to handle the sweetness.
Rating:
Beck & Co (ABInBev) – Becks
Date: Saturday, January 29, 2011
Brewery: Beck & Co (ABInBev)
Beer: Becks
Category: Premium American Lager
ABV: 4.80%
Brewed in: Germany
The beer is a pale yellow that is quite light for what is assumed to be an all malt beer.
The head is pure white and developed two fingers thick in my pilsner glass. Head retention was lacking and no lacing was noted.
The aroma is, to be honest, boring and skunky. There is a grainy smell with a stale hop presence. The dominant smell here is skunk. Damn green bottles…
The taste is smooth and crisp but again the skunky odors are making it up the back of the mouth and influencing the taste. I can barely pick up on the malt and the hop presence is faded and stale. The beer just does not taste fresh.
The body and carbonation are moderate and the mouthfeel is the best part of the beer. It does go down quite easily but without much else to be impressed by.
Very reminiscent of other euro lagers or mass brewed beers of the style. When picking from that lot I wouldn’t judge this choice but there are better beers of the style to choose from at an equivalent price point. Check out your local producers.
Rating:
beerisseur 