Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

Brewed by Brauerei Heller
Style: Smoked
Bamberg, Bayern, Germany

500 mL bottle from Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a dark brown color with a moderate brown head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma is very smoky with notes of salty bacon, smoked wood and faint earthy caramel. Taste is thankfully not as smoky. Smoke up front and in the finish with subtle meaty notes. In the middle is caramel and other malty notes. Medium bodied.

Serving: 500 ml bottle. Appearance: Very dark reddish brown color with a small, light tan head. Aroma: Nice and smokey up front with notes of wood smoke but not so much smoked ham as the Marzen. Still, it does smell like a barbeque, just more bacon and other meats. Flavor: A wonderful balance between the smoke and malt of the bock. Earth, leather, tobacco, caramel, smoke, smoked bread (if that makes sense). Just fantastic! Palate: Medium carbonation with a medium body and a medium, smokey finish. Overall: Surprisingly I found this to be lighter in body and feel to the Marzen and a little less "meaty" if you will. I really enjoyed this one and thought it was superb. Recommended.

(Bottle) The beer pours clear, dark mahogany brown with beautiful red hints. Creamy, off-white to pale yellow head. The aroma holds typical Schlenkerla smoked tones up front of tar, campfire and meat. Almost peppery with hints of earthy tobacco. Some sweetness is notable from the dark bread-like malt. Undertones of herbal hops, salt, caramel, nuts and some chocolate. The flavour is near medium sweet and light to medium bitter. Lots of clean smoke and chewy dark bready malt. The bitterness is clean with notes if bitter herbs and grass. The mouthfeel is round, silky and fat with a gentle carbonation. Earthy and smoky notes in the aftertaste. Medium to full bodied. As most smoked beers, this one is not super complex but the malt structure is fantastic.

Bottle. I love smokebeers. This one is the best. I ordered it from Germany.Smoked like hell. Just great.

Bottle@home Apperance: Ruby-red with a small, white head. Aroma: Bacon, Ham, Caramel, Smoked wood. Flavor: Smoked ham, Caramel, Grain, Smoke and some pleasant bitterness at the end. Palate: An easy drink which goes down way easy for being a smokebeer. Nicely balanced.

Aroma: Smoky, sweet malt with hints of banana, dried apricots and hops. Very well balanced with a delicious smokyness.
Flavour: Smoky and sweet initially and throughout. A grilled flavour takes over after about half a second, although this is mostly taking part in the nose. There is a pleasant bitterness of hops on a carpet of smooth, but elegant malts. Surprisingly mild however.Slightly sourish and bananlike aftertaste. Lastly there is a very pleasant taste of smoke left in the mouth, somewhat earthy and coal-like.
Appearance: A very dark, reddish brown body with beige, bubbly head that quickly sets but clings slightly to the glass. It looks quite nice.
Palate: Thin but somewhat oily, feels weaker than it really is. This beer is really good, but is somewhat lacking in depth and potency – flavourwise.

Bottle from Systembolaget. Pours a dark brown color with a medium-sized beigewhite head. Aroma is smoky with charcuteries, mostly smoked meat, but it’s also almost some smoked fish. Behind this you can find a sweetish maltiness with dark bread and liquorice. Flavour is smoky and malty. It’s lot of charcuteries which is balanced by a a nice sweetness and liquorice-like notes. Medium to full bodied. Pretty smooth mouthfeel. Good and balanced smoked bock.

A nose of firewood, smoked sausage, iron, some sweetness, and lots of tar. Taste is of roasted malts, iron, smoked ham or sausage and caramel. Some acidicy and bitterness initially, but it is replaced by a distinct smokeyness and a kind of dry character in the finish. The regular märzen is a bit boring; this Urbock is what its all about! I usually don’t like smoked beers, thinking the sweetness don’t mix with all the smoke, but this brew is really balanced in that aspect.