Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

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

500ml bottle at Quinns with Mes, 23rd Jan 08. Pours dark chestnut with a small head. Deep, dark smoky aroma. Wood, potash, smoked meats, peat. Flavour is similar - all the trademark Schlenkerla flavours are present and correct. It’s smooth and sweet, somewhat creamier than the Marzen. Overall, great stuff, as I was expecting!

500ml bottle. Much more tempered aroma than the Marzen. Smoked bacon, salted dried fish, toffee malt and wet wood. Pours dark, thick amber with a nice white head. Nice balance of smoky dryness and malty sweetness on the palate. Cigar smoke, sausage, wet wood, peat. Nice. This would be awesome barrel aged in an Ardbeg cask for sure. Medium to full bodied with a salty and smoky finish. I have officially changed my opinion of smoked beers.

Keg at National Winter Ales Festival, Manchester 2008 This was pure heaven, cheers Mes for pointing it out and recommending this one. Big, big smokiness, woodiness and German sausages, If I’d have closed me eyes and sipped I reckon my first thoughts would have been liquidised Bratwurst or some similarily spicy German sausage, the flavours hang onto the roof of your mouth and it’s like Mes said there’s this feeling of sticking your head into a bonfire, it really is a smokey number but bizarrely you don’t notice it so much after a while and all you can think of is pushing the massed hoardes outta the way and asking for a refill, I had three on the Friday and another one or two on the Saturday. This was Numero Uno for me over the weekend, can’t wait for Munich now.

Cask at Manchester Winter ale festial 08 ... Deep dark brown ... smokey fishy woddy ... again woody fishyness in flavour ... some toffee.

Bottle. Poured a very dark brown with a creamy, off-white head that dissipated quickly but, left extensive lacing on the glass. Intense aroma of smoke when poured. Good flavor of malt with smoke flavor intense but, not so it overpowers the malt flavor. Clean and not too heavy on the palate. Excellent.

Bottle; poured a dark mahogany color with a medium to large off white head. Nice looking. Aroma of smoked meat, and well, maybe some caramel. I’m not sure I’ll ever be in to that aroma, but the flavor was surprisingly good. A nice blend of flavors. Flavors of caramel, smoked malt, meat, oak, with a small, but nice amount of bitterness. Palate worked well with the flavors. Overall this was a good brew.

Deep, dark mahogany pour with an initially fizzy, then diminishing off-white head which leaves trace ring lace. From the get-go, this brew weaves a wonderful bouquet of smoked peat and jerky spices. The flavors balance nicely between caramel malts and smoked sausage and Gouda characteristics. The finish closes with a light peat bitter that completes the pull and brings it to fruition. The mouthfeel is soft, but well-rounded and satiating. The carbonation levels are perfectly integrated, as not to detract from any of the fine integrations going on, but lending a slight lively note to the pull. Well-complex, and a darn fine offering for an exceptional "change of pace" from the traditional. As Ty5592 noted below, if you like a smoked, you will not do wrong to try this.

Out of mini keg. Medium brown color with big tan head. Greasy smoked pork aroma and flavor. This stuff is so smokey you’ll think the house is on fire. Semi sweet caramel flavors mixed with smokey malts. If you like smoked this will not disappoint.