Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier

Brewed by Brauerei Heller
Style: Dortmunder/Helles
Bamberg, Bayern, Germany

Poured medium gold with a nice white head from a bottle. Initial smell includes the definite smokiness and peatiness of their real smokebeer. Almost to much for me, and I split the bottle in half with a friend. Flavor has initial lager taste followed by a strong bitter, smokey, peaty, and generally earthy taste and texture. I’m debating on whether this bottle was older then it should be or if it’s just my own palate that isn’t used to this flavor. Overall it wasn’t horrible but out of a recent random selection of beers that I got this has been my least favorite by far.

Bottle at Son of Sid Brewery, The Chequers, Little Gransden, Cambs’ 1st Beer Festival on 02-10-09 Pours mid gold with a white head. There is a definate smokiness to the nose. The taste is initially lagery with lager malts showing. Some grain but the smokiness is ever present. A7 A5 F7 P4 Ov14 3.7

Poured a hazy gold with a light head. The aroma was on the sweet side with notes of week hops and yeast. Then the taste was completely dominated by the yeast and wheat. While the aftertaste was powered by bitterness. Not enjoyable.

Draft. This was nice! Pours a golden body with a white head. AT first comes off a hint sweet maybe the residual hefe from my previous beverage and ends anything but. Huge smoke character peat like malt, hints of earth and honey. Liquid smoke come out even more as it warms. This is great!

A clear gold appearance, white head. The aroma is very clean, malkty, grassy, honey, sweet. The flavor follows exactly, very enjoyable, and refreshing. I don’t get the smoke that is supposed to be in this beer. Clean finish, mild bitering of noble hops. Enjoyable, one of the best in this style.

Bottle from Beers of the World in Henrietta. Pours a clear deep gold with a head of tight white bubbles. Aroma is slightly smokey and also sweet. The flavors reveal more of the smoke, but only enough to make this sweet lager interesting. Not spectacular, but a lighter offering from a brewery that makes a lot of impressive beers.

Bottle from Sam’s, Durham. Very pale golden pour with moderate carbonation. Malts and yeast in the nose, with a hint of light fruit and a healthy bit of smoke (though nothing compared to other Schlenkerla beers - awesome that the brewery is so smokelicious that they didn’t even need to add smoked malts to this). The beer isn’t especially convincing as a Helles, with not quite enough liveliness or body, nor even a particularly flavorful quality to it. But the quirkiness of smoke in this style is enough to merit a decent rating.

Bottle, bought at brewery. Bright gold, clear. The head disappears pretty fast. Disappointing aroma is bland sweet malts, light caramel, even a hint of honey. Thin, fizzy palate. Some bitterness in the finish has good character but is otherwise bland. Drier than it smells, and has burnt wood flavors and decent hopping. Bland and I don’t get any smoke. Tastes like the brewery runoff, which all things considered, could be worse! Still, I’m left with the impression, "Why bother?"