Aventinus is one of the beers I recommended in my 50 Beers to Drink Before You Die series. This wheat Doppelbock (a Weizenbock, actually) is unfiltered, unpasteurized, and has "original bottle fermentation." Truth be told, I’m not actually sure what they mean by this, other than allowing it to naturally carbonate in the bottle; some beers are actually bottled with an infusion of fresh yeast and sugar to bump up the alcohol and carbonation though, so perhaps that’s what they mean.

It’s a nice strong beer at 8.2% alcohol by volume, and about as German a beer as a beer can get.

Appearance: Nice fluffy head, slightly tan. Beer is cloudy and brown with gold and copper highlights.

Smell: Fruity phenolic weiss-bier; sour but not citrusy. Light, grassy wheat, a hint of grain.

Taste: Lemongrass, lightly toasted whole wheat, refreshing sour hefeweizen. Slight toasty bitterness. Some darker malts—nothing burnt or roasted though. Crisp. Yeasty but light.

Mouthfeel: Light and a bit effervescent; not thin. Refreshing and crisp (yes, I’m aware I’m repeating myself)—quenching.

Overall: Well-balanced, malty, lemony-fruity, delicious. Would make a great summer session beer if not for the strength…

On BeerAdvocate, it scores a cool 91 out of 100 with 99% approval. On RateBeer, it scores 4.02 out of 5 and is the 99th percentile—the highest score I’ve seen there for beers I’ve reviewed, I think.