JoKr Brewers Black Weiss

Black Weiss by JoKr Brewers, black weiss/dark wheat ale, ABV approx. 7 %, IBU unknown

JoKr Brewers Black Weiss a.k.a. Test Batch no. 3

If you ever have wondered what to call a “stout-like hybrid ale with wheat, chocolate malt and roasted barley, fermented with hefeweizen yeast” that holds 7 % ABV, the answer is provided by JoKr Brewers: this is a black weiss. This sounds like some seriously exciting stuff! Remembering the previous JoKr brew, the gushing Hops meet Mango, I remove the cap cautiously. A delicate psssst is all that comes out the bottle, no beer fountain this time. So far so good.  A gorgeous looking, large (or should I say huge), creamy, dense, tan head forms easily. The beer is not over-carbonated by any means, so it’s easy to control the formation of the head. The head reluctantly reduces to a fully lasting thick layer after quite some time, leaving a decent amount of lacing on the glass. The body is totally black and absolutely completely opaque, so I have no idea if the liquid is clear or hazy.

A very pleasant and strong toasted aroma with coffee, chocolate, dark caramel, sweet dark fruits and berries (yep, the black currants are here!). Also some smoky hints and a yeasty element that I don’t find particularly hefeweizen-ish. I haven’t actually tried a non-hefeweizen beer that is brewed with hefeweizen yeast, so the yeasty notes I get might of course be exactly what this kind of yeast smells like.

The taste is light to moderate sweet, I had expected even more sweetness due to the sweet aroma. Is there also a light acidic touch? The fairly long-lasting finish has a lovely moderate bitterness. The first thing I notice when I take the first sip is the alcohol. Maybe not-that-well-integrated-alchol is the trademark of JoKr Brewers? After a couple more sips the alcoholic starts to feel more mellow, and is transformed into a nearly red wine-ish feel. A few sips later the alcohol seems to be rather well integrated, so I won’t let the first impression influence my rating. Enough about the alcohol, there are other flavours that are far more obvious: I get dark roasted coffee, chocolate and faint traces of smoke and tobacco, the latter two are especially present in the aftertaste. Also dark sweet fruits and black currant plus yeasty notes. The flavours are not as strong as the aroma, but this is still a very tasty brew. The body isn’t exactly light, but I might have expected it to be a bit fuller? The texture is quite dry, but not annoyingly chalky dry as the previous JoKr brew I tried. A slight metallic feel is a bit disturbing, at least at first, but the mouthfeel is still quite good. Soft carbonation.

Conclusion: a very nice brew with strong aroma and flavours. I’ll buy this if it ends up in my local Vinmonopol!

Aroma:     7

Apperance: 5

Taste:     7

Palate:    3

Overall:  13

Ratebeer score: 3.5

Black Weiss: black body, brown head.

Long-lasting, creamy head. And look at the lacing!

Rating beer is serious business.

JoKr Brewers Hops meet Mango

Hops meet Mango by JoKr Brewers, DIPA, ABV 9.8 %, IBU 130

Hops meet Mango a.k.a. Test batch no. 4

A nice (D)IPA has an intensely fruity aroma, but often I’m a bit disappointed when it comes to the actual flavours: where have all the fruits gone? JoKr Brewers are obviously of the same opinion, and they have brewed an ale with real mango in order to enhance the tropical fruitiness of the flavour profile. Ever since ClubGonzo told me about their efforts I’ve wanted to try this beer, and finally the bottle is here on my table. Or actually, the bottle is safely placed in my kitchen sink, since this is a very aggressive carbonated brew that’s very eager to escape the bottle. I was warned about the beer’s gushing capabilities by ClubGonzo, so I opened the cap extremely carefully and the beer fountain was therefore somewhat tamed.

In the glass the beer has a medium amber colour. Murky, close to muddy body with particles of all sizes and colours. Not that good-looking. A decent sized but disappointingly fluffy, bath foam-ish off-white head consisting of big, very short-lived bubbles. The sad remains of the head leave virtually no lacing.

The aroma is another story all together! A lovely, strong, sweet fruity hoppy aroma with a firm malty backbone. The tropical fruits are dominating (I might be a bit biased, but I think I get lots of ripe mango). Also peach and citric notes and some sweet caramel-like stuff lurking in the back.

Moderate sweet taste with a heavy bitter finish. Moderate flavours with bitter grapefruit and alcohol, tropical fruits (mango and peach) in the finish. To be honest I had hoped for a far more pronounced mango flavour. The stinging alcohol is too dominating, especially in the aftertaste. Together with a very chalky, yeasty, dry feel the beer is a bit too rough on the palate to be really pleasant. Despite the initial gushing this medium bodied beer ends up rather softly carbonated in the glass.

Conclusion: A fun and interesting experiment resulting in decent beer with a very pleasant aroma and ok flavours. Unfortunately it’s too alcoholic and it has a heavy chalky dryness that doesn’t correspond all that well with the very sweet tropical aroma.

 

Aroma: 8

Appearance: 2

Taste: 6

Palate: 2

Overall: 11

Ratebeer score: 2.9

A newly poured Hops meet Mango. Frothy bath foam head!

The head is almost gone when Im done rating the aroma. Note the piece of mango that clings to the glass; this is the real deal!