Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

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

Multiple bottles. Dark burgundy and brown colored body with a small film of a tan head. Spicy flavor, full of spicy yeast up front, and if can you believe this, there’s not a lot of smoke up front on the first sip... that changes soon. The meaty salami flavor shows up very strong, and the palate is mostly crisp and spicy, which is really nice. The smoked meat and smoked cheese flavors are divine... reminds me of elk camp, and really this is a beer I have to bring to elk camp again this year. The nose is more of the same meaty salami scent, but it’s crazy delicious. Up front there’s a ton of huge biscuity malts, then it turns to a smooth long-lasting smoked ham and salami flavor into the finish. Great stuff, one of the best beers I’ve had.

This pours a deep brown-red color with a pale halo of a head. Great smoked sausage & bacon aroma. Not as thick a mouth-feel as the Marzen, but seems to something more than the smokey-ness in the flavor. Tasty light bitterness in the finish. An excelent, warming drink.

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One of, if not the best smoked beers I’ve had. The strong smoke aroma can almost drive you away if you are not ready for it. The sweet malt coupled with the mild smoked flavors blend well witha smooth rich mouth fell. The aroma disipates during the course of imbibing and leads to some nice malt aromas.

Strong smoked sausice aroma. Dark brown color, light brown head, very nice lace. Sweet, moked sausice, fruity, bitter finish, strong flavors. Heavy and warming.

Pours a dark brown color with islandic lacing. Aroma is very nicely smoked, very refreshing like a harvest smoke house. Flavor doesn't have many complexities, just straight forward fruit and smoke. This one isn't as good as the marzen but is still a very good smoked beer. I'm really developing a taste for these. Thanks Indra!

Draught at the London Drinker beer festival. I will long remember the first time I had a rauchbier - long before beer geek days and in Germany. Although I knew that "rauch" was going to have something to do with smoke ("nicht raucher"), I was quite unprepared for the intense bacon flavour. How could a beer be intended to taste of meat? And, even if that as intended, could it be palatable. Well I did enjoy it once the shock had passed. I guess rauchbier is something you either love or hate. I fall into the former camp. This was a rare opportunity to sample a strong rauchbier on draught (using a strange siphon/bicycle pump type contraption on top of the barrel) in the UK and very impressive it was too.

Bottle. Poured clear dark brown with a large light brown frothy head that was mostly lasting with very good lacing. Moderate woody smoke malt aroma. Medium body. Medium sweet smoke flavor with a medium bitter finish of moderate duration. Complex standout beer.

Dark brow colour with a think longlasting tan head. Very smokey aroma. Flavor is malty and lots of smoked meat. Very well balanced. Malty and woody finish with a smokey aftertaste. A lovely beer.