Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

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

Bottle 08 from Whole Foods. Pour is deep brown/red. The nose on it is WOW. Beef jerkey, salt water, BBQ, wet coals. It would go nicely with BBQ or smoked salmon. Really interesting beer for a 1 time gig.

Bottle poured deep garnet with very little head. But,man the aroma could knock you over, but in a good way. Southern BBQ comes to mind when you smell this brew. That is what a smoked beer should smell like. The sweet malt matches nicely with smokey flavor. Went very nicely with the chipotle pork chops for dinner. Very nicely done! Only a one pint kind of drink, though. Alot going on and could easily become overpowering.

I think that somehow this brewery has managed to create a beer using water, malt, malt, hops, and bacon. I cracked the bottle open and poured into a pint glass and it is a ruby red...suspiciously like cooked bacon. It smells of smoke and tastes just like liquified bacon. I passed it around to five other people who immediately agreed with my opinion of it’s bacon flavor. Opened my second bottle this morning and had it with scrambled eggs. Fantastic breakfast.

Dark ruby with a small, bubbly white head that I coaxed out of it. Nice nose that glides across the room with spicy, meaty smoke, slight fruits, and sweet, tea-like malts. Full bodied. Flavor is more smoke with a strong malt component, sweet and chocolatey, but it’s a little watery. I like it, but it’s not as nuanced as I’d hoped.

16.9 oz bottle into pint glass. Pours a nice clear red with a big light brown head that left some nice lace. Smells mostly like hickory smoke with some protruding amber maltyness. - reminds me of a BBQ/campfire. The flavor isn’t quite as smokey as the nose, and is thus a bit more appealing to me than the Marzen (which was a bit overboard on the smoke for me). It tastes pretty simple at first, like amber malt with a definite smoked wood character, with a bit of a hop presence on the finish. The more I drink, the more I am getting roasted chocolate and coffee notes - even a hint of cherry - beneath (or maybe within) the smoke character. Half way through the glass I became much more comfortable with the style and began to enjoy this beer quite a bit. Much more balanced than the Marzen IMO. Medium bodied and smooth on the palate. Overall: this is definitely a unique style, and a good example of that style. I bet this goes great with a burger at a smoky cookout. I would be interested to try a cask version of this and see what the wood does to it.

Bottle from Bottleworks in Seattle, WA--Poured a deep murky brown-chestnutish body with a small beige head. Smokey would be an understatement for the malty, spicy in your face nose. Earthy, bitter, sweet and meaty flavor. Great sipping beer. Mmmm.

clear ruby brown pour with a beige head and light lacing. the aroma is nice mellow smoke but not charred or ashy... earthy, malty sweetness and grass. the flavor is somehow warming... it reminds me of REAL amish lebanon bologna... sour, meaty/umame, spicy and rich slow robust smoke. it’s not astringent or overly smoky and masking the other characteristics... it’s a very refined and well calculated amount. medium body, slick mouth feel and a nice acidity. awesome with a roast beef sandwich and fudgey chocolate brownies....

I favor the Marzen but this is a good sturdy beer. I enjoyed this November ’07 at the pub in Bamber. Prefer it on tap via gravity over the bottled product here in the US. Doesn’t seem to have the best shelf life in the bottle. Pronounced mothfeel with smoke and hop bitterness vying for attention. Not something you would chug. Good for sipping outside under the heatlamps on a cold Bamberg night.