Magic Hat Batch 371 (Dunkelweizen)
3
173 reviews
South Burlington, United States
Community reviews
St. Gootz 2006. Not normally a big fan of Magic Hat beers, but this has been my favorite thus far. Not great however. Dark brown color, whitish head. A complex taste; I noticed caramel, wheet and cloves flavors. Overall was ok.
Nothing special going on here. Able to sample a LOT of this from the local liquor store since I could pick up a twelve pack of the Fall ’05 sampler pack. I sampled a fresh batch back then and it only got better over time. Evident wheat tastes followed up by malt body that leaves one short. I would still like to try next year’s batch...
Dark brown with an off white head. Good retention. Smells like cloves, banana and wheat. Tart taste with some caramel and citrus. Otherwise same as the aroma. Cloves were overkill in my opinion. Pretty good.
Saint Gootz. Dark brown color with an off-white sediment. Found the taste and aroma to be pungent and unappealing.
Saint Gootz provides a healthy dose of heavy malts in the form of molasses. Moderate yeast aroma comes from a soap scent. It pours a medium brown color with a muddy body, covered by a (initially) massive fizzy, light brown head that mostly diminishes. There is virtually no lacing. Initial flavor is lightly acidic, with a moderate turn to sweet at the finish. Well noted that this is a malty beer. Light to medium on the mouth, it left us watery with soft carbonation and a chalky feel.
Not a bad showing at all. Saint Gootz label. This one poured a dark brown color with orange edges and a nice thin head. Lacing was ok. The aroma was very typical for the style, nice roasted touch to the bananas and cloves. The flavor was much of the same, roasted caramel type malts, wheat, cloves, bananas, and some citrus. The finish was somewhat smokey, though... more than just roasted. The mouthfeel was moderate to heavy for the style, dry, and carbonated. Nice job by MH.
Labeled Saint Gootz - Pours a dark hazy brown color. Aromas of bread, malt, and some fruit. Flavor has a touch of sweet malt and clove, I think. Overall, not to bad.
Mine was also St. Gootz. Dark brown, hazy but not opaque. Maybe the most interesting of the Magic Hats, but not a great brew. A sour dark wheat beer with some dark roast, some hint of coffee or chocolate, but no real intensity, and some sourness. Not enough to call it nasty acidity, and while I did not find the sort of clove / spice / citrus or sweet banana fruit that I would hope to find in a German style wheat beer, I did not find the skuniness that the reviewer before me found.
Bottled as Saint Gootz. Poured a dark ruby with a fizzy off-white head. Aroma of chocolate, caramel, and some occasional vomit notes. Flavor is some roasted malt, dark fruit, ash and a nasty acidity. Gets worse and worse with every sip. Nope, nope, nope.
Bouteille de 12 oz achetée au Cabot Annex Store (Waterbury Center, VT). Arôme: Odeur de caramel et de bananes. Apparence: La couleur est brune opaque. Présence d’un mince col. Saveur: Goût d’agrumes et de clou de Girofle. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture minérale. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. (Rating #480)
(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with pineypower, thanks Dean!) Batch 371 and Saint Gootz sit before me, and based on these beers in front of me now, there is absolutely no way these two beers are the same thing, not even close. First, Batch 371. This pours a hazy medium-dark amber that is fairly easy to read text through the center of the glass. The head is light-tan in color and pours to over half an inch in height, but settles to a thin ring, leaving no lacing. Banana dominates the aroma, but it’s mildly phenolic as well, and wheat and yeast are only slightly perceptible over the banana. The sweet flavor of banana dominates initially up front, but that is soon tempered by a much more prominent dry, wheat maltiness, plenty of yeast and mild phenolics. Well-carbonated on the palate, dry mouthfeel, medium in body, but thinning a bit in the finish. A nice beer, but too yeasty and phenolic for me. Cap: "BIG is little... little is BIG." (6, 3, 5, 3, 11 = 2.8)(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with hopscotch, thanks Eric!) Now for Saint Gootz. This beer pours a very cloudy and very dark ruddy-brown color, which is a multitude of shades darker than 371, and it’s impossible to see through even the edges of this beer, let alone be able to read text clearly through the center of the glass. The light-tan head is small and a bit fizzy, so it fades away to a ring fairly quickly and leaves no lace. The nose is very toasty, like darkened bread crust, and totally lacks the sweet banana that dominates the nose of Batch 371. And there’s even a great disparity in the flavor. With this beer, it’s toasty, even lightly roasty, dark bread crust again, yeasty, even a bit of smoke and a hint of sesame oil. Banana, if present at all, is very light. Sweetness is pretty light and rather, I think the light tartness is more noticeable. No phenolics whatsoever, either in the nose or flavor. Body is about medium, as is the carbonation level, but this beer starts fairly dry and stays fairly dry through to the finish. Compared to Batch 371, this beer looks better (except for the poor heading), smells better and tastes MUCH better, it shows better balance and complementary flavors. It’s just a far superior beer. Cap: "Slurp Soup on a Sloop." (7, 3, 7, 3, 14 = 3.4)Going back and forth between the two beers, it’s as obvious as night and day that Batch 371 is much more dominated by sweet banana and yeast and has none of the toastiness that I find in Saint Gootz. If it were close, I’d say screw it, but these beers are FAR apart and definitely not the same thing.
(tasting as the loft)dark body with a nice creamy white head.rasoted malts and wheat in the aroma.dark wheat,hay,and roasted malts in the flavor.
Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. Pours murky brownish dunkel color, small off-white head, Aroma of wheat, sweet malt , banana, and spices. Flavor is overly sweet, fruit, spices, carbonation.
This beer was once only found in a Magic Hat variety pack, but is now a year round beer called St. Gootz. A dunkle weizen by style, this beer is a decent domestic example of the style. Pours to a hazy, deep caramel color, with a tall, thick, rocky, white head, and a vibrant carbonation. The nose on this beer is nice with aromas of sweet malt, carmel, and esters of banana and clove. The plate is firm, with good sweet malt and caramel flavors, paired with some tart wheat malt flavor, and esters of plum. This beer finishes with more good wheat malt and caramel flavor up front, then ends with some spicy clove that lingers. Tasty dunkle hefe. A nice beer to have with a hearty meal, and a nice after work beer, or aperitif beer before a meal.
Distinctive wheaty aroma, a light effeverscent tingle on the palate, bit of a light body compared to others, begins intriguing, but my mid mouth, starts to go downhill, losing much of the anticipated start and by the finish you wonder what happened to this potentially interesting offering. Overall ends up fair.
On tap and I would like to try it in bottle. Pours an opaque brown with a very small whitish head. Aroma is lightly clove-like with some cookie maltiness but no bananas. Body is WAY undercarbonated and is overly viscous. The flavor is very oxidized and more resembles a flat American Brown ale than a dunkleweizen. Pretty unimpressive.
This brewer has overall failed to impress me but this one was the worst of the lot. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a dark brown color with numerous chunks floating in it and a small brown head topping it off. The aroma is sour and tangy and fairly unpleasant. The flavor is also sour, tangy and vaguely unpleasant. There are some light elements of roasty malts and chocolate but the tangy bitter finish kills any possible enjoyment. Drain pour.
Very deep brown, slight head lasted well, quite murky. Couldn’t raise an aroma to save my life. Flavor, egads! This was horrible! Possibly the nastiest yeast I’ve ever encountered. Bordering on infection flavors. Totally obliterated what may have been some chocalate malt flavors. Drain pour. Hope this was just a horribly off bottle.
cloudy dark brown with thin tan head. small effervecence. fruity, hops. bannana aroma. wheat bananna. wow that bananna is intense. a little sour. very interesting beer.
12 bottle of Saint Gootz. Dark brown cloudy beer with a fizzy head. Strong toasted wheat aroma with some light peach and banana aromas as well. Fairly dark maltiness, almost roggenweizen-like. A light hint of dustiness but nothing too offensive. Fairly full-bodied and creamy mouthfeel. Nice toasty, bread crust flavours, rye and a hint of chocolate. Yeast seems a bit clean, maybe some cherry in here. Light alcoholic peppery notes as the beer warms up. Very yeasty tasting as well. Not bad.
Draught at Capital Ale House in Richmond, VA. Dark brown color with off white head. Loved the mix of flavors and aromas including including chocolate and esters. There was also a touch of roastiness. Bananas, clove, and chocolate actually sit well with one another. Very good dunkelweizen.
I bought a 6 pack of this stuff and after my first sip, my initial reaction was "uh-oh, what the hell am I gonna do with this stuff". It pours a thick, black color with little head. Carbonation is sparse, though the large bubbles easily remind you that you are drinking beer. The body is light at the start but gets thicker and chewier as it gets down to the bottom (pehaps I did not pour this right). The taste is reminiscent of stainless steel. I have never licked a restaraunt counter top, but this is what I imagine it would taste like. For some reason it was, ultimately, drinkable. I traded/drank the rest of it and chalked another one up to experience.
Murky red-brown with an alright head. A quarter inch layer of sediment at the bottom for better or worse made it’s way into my vessel, oh well! Smells strongly like a typical weizen-- cloves, banana, apple etc-- though I think I smell a hint of mint as well. There’s no much texture to this beer, despite all of the sediment it’s watery with more CO2 than need be. The flavor is more or less identical to the aroma, though sweeter initially, lacking the mint, and with a roasty finish. Not unpleasant, but I probably won’t be buying this again.
Cloudy brown/red color with little head. Too carbonated. Aroma was fruity/banana, and a little malty (though not very much). Flavour was basically the same but no malt and a bit more sour and bitter.
Bottle Saint Gootz: Dark brown, small tan head. Some wheat malt in the aroma. Flavor was a little bland, I’m sure the bottle wasn’t exactly fresh just so so for a dunkelweizen.
taste a little smoky a little bit of a berry bite too it. id like to say it is rich but its a little watery. really doesnt taste too much like a dark wheat beer but whatever. it is decent
This is the type of beer I would drink if I were flat broke and there was no other beer around. Very disappointed, for some reason I was hyped up to try it but there is no way I would buy it again. Bland aroma and appearance. And the taste only started to get better at the end. Why drink this when there is so much better affordable beer out there?
Bottle Saint Gootz: Pours a murky mahogany with a lightly-lacing thin frothy tan head. Aroma of sweet toasty dark caramel with a mild hint of burnt malt and bready German yeast. Body starts with some sweet caramel notes turning slightly citric and tart before a thinner finish. Has a nice authentic German yeasty character, but could be a touch thicker and less tart. Otherwise, a nice dunkelweizen and one of Magic Hat’s better beers IMO.
Bottle. Labeled Saint Gootz. Dark brown body with a small tan head. Nose is malty and creamy with light fruit notes (berry and banana), light bubblegum notes, and some candyish fruit notes. Light cocoa as well. Taste is very fruity with bananas, melon and berries, along with creamy malts, wheat notes, dark breadiness, light cocoa and mild hop notes. Body is medium with a light carbonation feel to it. Finishes with more candyish notes, big fruit notes, sweet malts, wheat and light choco-notes. Not bad!
The bottle opens and pours dark and viscous, with some typical wheat aromas overlaid by sourness. Magic Hat’s inferior yeast strain really lets down their dunkelweizen, imparting distinctly sour and bitter flavors. The malt base is quite good, which makes this a frustrating beer.