Beer Camp Weizenbock - Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico

I have a thing for the Weizenbock style, and I've been hearing a lot about the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp offerings this year, so when I saw bottles of Beer Camp Weizenbock at my local liquor store I didn't think twice about picking one up. The Beer Camp program is a sort of invitational Pro-Am event that takes place at Sierra Nevada in Chico. The group collaborates on a couple styles of beer and, if they turn out pretty decent, Sierra Nevada will bottle and release the beers to retail. It's a cool program, I'm anxious to see how the beer turned out.

The Beer Camp Weizenbock pours a dense golden orange color with a medium white head. The edges of this beer lets a little light through and turns a lighter wheaty yellow color while the center is an opaque, nearly brown, warm orange. This is the lightest colored Weizenbock I've ever seen, it's also the most radiant. It's murky but oddly translucent and the colors almost look like a fall sunset.

The aroma of this Beer Camp Weizenbock is very similar to a traditional German Hefeweizen. It's got a big funky banana component right up front with a hint of coriander and clove. Those yeasty aroma's dominate but there is a touch of wheat in there as well. The flavor is similar, you'll notice the sweet and tangy yeast flavors right up front. There's an underlying caramel quality to this beer that I'll attribute to the Bock part of the style. This beer did end up seeming more like a Double Weizen than a Weizenbock. The flavors weren't as robust, though they were plentiful, and savory as other Weizenbocks. That doesn't mean I didn't like this beer, in some ways I actually liked it more.

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Weizenbock is a great tasting beer. It wasn't what I was expecting given it's name, but it ended up surprising me. This is a beer I would recommend to anyone who likes Wheat beers in general and Weizenbocks in particular.