Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier

Brewed by Brauerei Heller
Style: Smoked
Bamberg, Germany

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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I don’t think you can get a better rauchbier. Nice bar-b-q aroma. Pleasant smokey taste that is not too faint and not too overpowering. Thanks, Redlight Redlight for bringing this one in.

Growler from Bierkraft in Schlenkerla glass. Reddish brown with lasting beige head. Very smoky woodsmoke and toasted caramel aroma. Smoky toasted caramel brown sugar with lager grassiness and lingering mild bitterness. Medium body and medium carbo. Very clean and very smoky, but still the toasted caramel of the malts and the hop bitterness come through beautiful. Ok, I’ve been waiting a couple of years to try this one, and it is awesome. I thought it would be my first 5, but I’m not sure it’s actually better than the marzen, which has less lingering bitterness. I will have to decide whether this or the marzen will be my first 5. Anyhow, I think I need to move to Bamberg.

UPDATED: DEC 25, 2011 draft@Chez Moeder Lambic: brown colour with a small creamy, lacing head, smell is lots of smoke & some toasted malt, taste is first a lovely blast of smoke followed by plenty of raw bacon (the bear itself is very meaty) & some toasted malt, very woody oak, the remnants of a campfire that are present throughout come back in the ending & smoke changes a bit, I feel a bit like it would have been even better if the body was thicker than it is now, really love this taste, it is amazing

From a cask at the Bavarian Lodge in Lisle, IL, on 5/5/11. Aroma:There’s just smoke in the aroma, with maybe a little malt hiding. Appearance:Deep amber with very nice white head. Head has tiny bubbles and is long lasting. Moderate lasting. Taste:On the foretaste, there is a little smokey flavor with a great malt sweetness, but in the midtaste it changes to a much more mature smokey deeper smokey flavor. On the aftertaste there’s a small alcohol bite and a great nutty malt flavor. Palate:Light to medium mouthfeel with low to moderate carbonation. Overall:This is a wonderfully balanced rauchbeer with a lot of complexity.

I’ve been searching for this beer for years and actually had a chance to try it last year during Philly Beer Week. It was on tap at the Yards brewery during the Smoke ’Em If You Got ’Em festival. I arrived an hour after the event began and it was already gone. Curses! I heard that this was on at Bierkraft in Brooklyn so I drove there today to pick up a couple of growlers. I love this brewery and this is the only beer they brew that I haven’t had yet. I’m very excited to finally get to try it. Pours a cloudy, dark copper/mahogany color with dark, golden ruby/orange hues when held to a light source and a two finger soapy, light yellowish-beige head that has excellent retention, only slowly fading into a lasting cap. Sporadic chunks of soapy lacing are left behind. Another amazing smelling beer from Schlenkerla. Lots of smokey toasted malt with hints of campfire, earthy oak, barbecue and bacon. Although the rauch/smoke notes dominate the nose, it is not one dimensional at all. There are hints of earthy oak, caramel malt, bready yeast and faint hops. Of these later characteristics, the oak and caramel are most prevalent. It’s a nice change of pace to be able to smell something other than butane in this style of beer. Don’t get me wrong I love smoke bombs but the nose on this beer is very complex and unlike any other beer of the style that I’ve come across before. Full bodied which is not surprising for a lent beer but I still wasn’t expecting the mouthfeel to be so dense. Nice and smokey yet still well balanced by other flavors making it extremely complex and drinkable. Slightly nutty with lots of toasty malt and bready yeast notes contributing to the full body with a surprisingly strong oak presence and some nice crisp hop bitterness. The hop presence was much more prominent that I had expected and it was a very pleasant surprise. Although these other flavors are present, this beer is still dominated by smoked malt. Lots of smokey campfire flavor with hints of bacon, barbecue, charcoal and burnt toast. As in the nose, there are a lot of different elements contributing to the complexity of this beer. In one sip you get smoke, oak, nut, caramel and bitter dry hops all complimenting each other without anything becoming to overpowering, even the smokiness. Incredibly quaffable and absolutely delicious. Highly recommended!

UPDATED: APR 10, 2005 04.07.05 16oz, hand-bottled from growler by TAR. Hazed chestnut, glowing. Sports a creamy khaki head mixed with some sizeable bubbles despite the stress it’s been put through in its short life. Aroma is deep with woodsmoke, hints of brine, more smoke, ripe grain, layer after layer of smoke, and something of a caramelized fruit quality (raisin?). First sip and wow! Now this is a session beer! As dominant as the smoke is on the nose, on the palate this seems more like an alt with some definite toasty (pretzel) notes and a bit salty. Smoke is integrated beautifuly to simply play into the overall impression. And while more heavily smoked than the majority of ’smoked’ brews seem to be, it’s maybe the least smoky of the Aecht Schlenkerlas that I’ve tried. The body is soft, very wet and refreshing; hints of tangy hops bitterness on the back of the palate. Damn, this stuff’s invigorating. I feel younger for having drunk this ambrosia. Thank you Jeff!

After dreaming about this beer for the last couple of nights, I’ve come to realize that I grossly underated the stuff. I’ve been waking with the DTs thinking about smoke. Previous rating 4.3

UPDATED: MAR 3, 2008 Tap at Ginger Man. Deep brown beer with a touch of ruby colour and a light yeasty haze topped by a 1/2” of creamy white head. Really gorgeous looking pint. Nose is amazing, soft beechwood smoke over soft bready/doughy malts. Light toasted wheat and a chewy breadiness. A hint of sulfur and light munich malt as well. Smells amazing. Flavour is great as well, soft texture shows off the lightly kilned malts to their utmost, with the smoke serving to accent the inherent sweetness. Minerally bitterness on the back with a touch of sulfury flavour adds an interesting note to the malts. Warming brings up a hint of berryish fruits. So good, it’s almost sinful. My favourite Schlenkerla. Another lucky find for me.

Draft: Unfiltered auburn. Loose but sticky off-gray foam. Fascinating nose chock-full of bready malt and honey-glazed smoked prosciutto. Faint leather, anise, and burnt toffee. Softly lush carbonation. Dash of acidity immediately deepens the rich smoke flavor. Thoroughly complex malt notes teem with sticky caramel drippings that segregate the mineral grittiness and lush, malt dust-laced foundation. Perfect level of datelike sweetness cuts the smoked poultry tang, but the attenuation magically remains impeccable. Finishes clean as a whistle but with an equally-rustic edge of ashen wood notes slowly cushioned by caramel and fresh bread as smoky phenolic whispers develop alongside firm herbal-accented hop bitterness and a neatly-tucked spicy anise punch. An “other-worldly” rauchbier, and perhaps the best smoked session beer on the planet.

Draught @ Rymy-Eetu, Helsinki 24.2. Finally got to try this beer! Pours mahogany / almost brown colour with a large lasting white head. Aroma is fantastic with smoked ham, wood and hint of tar. Flavour is bit like Märzen, but this one has liquirice, together with smoked malt and maybe little salty at the end. Enjoyable to the max, what a beer!

Draught at Bishop’s Arms Folkungagatan, Stockholm Mahogany colour, rich firm head. Sausage-like beechwood smoke dominates the nose. Medium sweet with soft yet solid mouthfeel. The velvetty, yet powerful smoke flavour surrounds me completely, a condensed, seemless full sized flavour. Remining fabulously drinkable with a balancing late bitterness. At least as good as the keg märzen. I can only imagine what it’s like from wood at Schlenkerla.