Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Bock

Brewed by Brauerei Heller
Style: Heller Bock
Bamberg, Germany

Serve in Dimpled mug, Stein

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Pizzeria Paradiso, Alexandria tap ($10): Pours a light amber with a white head. Aroma is meat, oak smoke, and a bit of sugar. Taste is smoky, but not to the same extent as the eiche, but it has the same character. The lower smokiness makes it somewhat more drinkable in my opinion. It ain’t the best from Heller, but it is still pretty nice.

Tap at New Albanian. Sweet smoked ham and apple aroma. Amber with a small head. Smoked ham and apple flavor. Medium body. Phenomenal smoked beer!

Tap at New Albanian. Smoked ham and malt aroma. Golden yellow color with no head. Sweet apple and smoked meat flavor. Moderate bitter herbal hops finish. Has the typical Schlenkerla smoke flavor but with a sweet fruity flavor - like applewood smoked bacon. Spectacular.

Tap @ The BeerMongers... This poured pale, hazy, milky, golden with a white head. Nose was extremely yeasty. (Maybe the keg was all shook up?). Hints of wood, wine-like yeastiness, faint smoke in there. Sweet, brine-like. Some chemical component that were a little astringent. Not my favorite from the Schlenkerla.

Draft @ Novare Res. Served in a mug. Smoked sausage nose. Flavor has some sweet malt, that tries hard to come through all the campfire smoke. I think the body was kind of heavy or maybe I was just had enough by the time the mug was empty. It’s exactly what I was expecting and I appreciate what this brewery does. And you really have to like smoked in order to enjoy this.

On tap at the Malt House - Pours clear amber with a huge foamy white head. Lightly smoked beef jerky on the nose, with some sweet grain and a bit of grassy spiciness. The sweet/smoked blend isn’t totally my thing. Taste blends some of the same things: smoky dried beef, oak, pungent sweet grain, and some earthy hops on the finish, obscured by the smoke. The sweetness is there, which really doesn’t work for me.

Draft at Chuchkey. Dull, hazy tea color with limited apparent carbonation. Odd rubbery smoke aroma, like there’s a tire fire in the backyard and bacon on the skillet. Sweet toasted malt flavor with Schlenkerla’s smoky house character. No helles bock character to speak in terms of color or flavor. Not the best offering from this venerable brewery.

Tap at Churchkey. Pours hazier light orange with a medium, yellowish head. Weaker retention and spotty lace. Sweet smokey nose with fresh orange and candied ham slices like honey baked ham. Nice. Not so much "campfire" or fatty bacon. Taste is sweet ham, bitter flowers, slight herbal bitterness. Ending drier with sweet honey baked ham lingering. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Draft at Redlight. Pours a beautiful copper with a thin white head. Typical Schlenkerla smoky meaty aroma, along with a metallic sharpness. Taste has more of the smoky bacon, campfire coming through along with some fruitiness and a rather thick body. Decent, but didn’t find it as good as there other offerings.

Draft at Redlight Redlight. Always excited to try a new offering from Schlenkerla. The pour yields a mostly clear, deep, copper-amber colored body. A short head of smooth, off-white foam settles to a thin blanket, leaving a sudsy wash of lacing behind. The nose is extremely smokey, bordering on Urbock-like intensity. Smokey, salty, phenolic bacon notes dominate underlying sweet caramel and fruited bread malts. Flavors show slightly more balance and restraint, if you can call it that. Bold smoke nods to alder wood smoked salmon and smoked ham with a caramelized skin. Sticky bread and dark, nutty fruit also come through. The palate is considerable, perhaps hefty even, showing a great deal more body than the standard, lower-gravity Helles. As such, it drinks pretty sluggish and heavy, though the carbonation is on point. Overall, probably not one of my favorite from these guys, but still nice.