Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

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

Poured a deep brown color with a thin tan head that had nice lacing. Aroma was heavy on smoke note, but i could detect a pleasant sweet malt note to it Initial was of mild sweetness balanced out by a mild smoky and dry finish. Some minor oak notes present, but nothing that really affected the beer in anyway.

Sssmoky. Both smell and taste. Creates a feeling like sitting at a campfire, but nevertheless very elegantly smoky. So complex and multidimensional taste and aroma. Salty salami et cetera. You’ll either love this or hate it. Decent body, but it would be interesting to drink similar beer with stronger body.

This beer pours out a nice brown color which is somewhat clear witha a thick and sudsy tan headto it. Also it leaves some really nice lacing along the sides of the glass which happen to be long streaks with thick spots. The aroma is very intence and woody like that nice smell of someone being near a fire. As you drink it the floavor is very intence as well and full of hickory, and a nice bacon flavor. Bot so much meaty like but the smell of bacon being smoked on a smoke house with a hops finish and some malt to top it off. The palate is nice and warming, it tastes like beef jerkey. Kind of like you are sucking on the jerkey in the back of your mouth.

Pours a deep, ruby-hued brown colour with a whipped tan head that leaves spots of lace. The nose is mostly hickory-smoked bacon, or some other sort of ham. Notes of soy sauce and toasted wood chips. The flavour is as manly as flavours get, with bacon, chewing tobacco, wood and bitter hops on the finish. Some malt sweetness is apparent for milli-second, and it gives me the impression of maple syrup. The palate is medium bodied and round, with good duration leaving a lingering hickory flavour. I would love to crack one of these in the morning with a bacon and egg sandwich. This is man beer!

500. Black. Dark amber highlights here and there. Thick, rocky, moussy tan head with plenty of clumpy sheets of lace. This one looks like a beast even at a distance. Big nose with huge smokey beef jerky flavors, some salty teriyaki and campfire under that. Bits of bacon and black pepper along for the ride. Body’s on the light side of medium, which is a bit surpising given the nose and the head and lace, but not when you consider that this is a lager. Carb is very faint. The jerky, teriyaki, campfire, bacon, and black pepper go ’round again on the mid-palate, with a fairly lengthy bacon finish. Great stuff. Definitely not for the faint of heart when it comes to the rauch.

Bottle at the Pig’s Ear Festival, London: Crystal clear mahogany. Plenty of smoke here, let’s make no mistake about that. I found the nose to be a touch salty, and not unlike that of a peice of wood that has been on the fire before being doused by muddy water. In the mouth a prominent sweetness sits under a ceiling of heavily smoked meat. However, the sweetness quickly dissipates, leaving a crisp smokey aftertaste that has astounding length. I can think of few beers that are so perfectly suited to hearty winter meat-based dishes. Just lovely.

Draught at De Wildeman, Amsterdam, 12-3-07. Clear dark reddish-brown. Big creamy beige head with lots of lace. Aroma is smoky, with plenty of sweet caramel malt. Not as much smoke as the marzen. Very clean and smooth flavor. The smoke is blended in well, and doesnt dominate as much as the marzen either. Very malty and full, but not too sweet or cloying as some bocks. Medium body was a little thinner than I expected, but makes it very drinkable. finishes clean with lingering smoke. Overall, possesses very good balance for a smoked beer. I would session it all day If i could.

500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. ABV is 6.5%. Mahogany coloured beer, large beige head. INTENSE and pretty extreme aroma of smoked meat and burnt-out ruins of wooden houses, hints of tar. The flavour is also intensely smoky, but there is also a malty sweetness to back it up. Moderate hops in the finish. You have to be impressed (one way or another) by this beer - but I have trouble deciding if I really LIKE the overwhelming smokiness. I know a lot of people LOVE it - I’ll just say: Give it a try!