EKU 28

Brewed by Kulmbacher Brauerei (Schörghuber)
Style: Eisbock
Kulmbach, Germany

Serve in Dimpled mug, Snifter, Stein

Tasted 21/12/2007. 330ml bottle from Regionals. Brilliant, lambent dark rose-gold - tending amber - with a creamy white head. Bready, milled-grain malt character dominates the first nose. On closer inspection there is a rose-like perfumy character. That carries through into the mouth, where toffee and a strong alcohol character, with a slight burn, dominates. Sweet. A little alcohol spice. No noticeable hop character, as you’d expect, but it could do with some. Too strong and cloying for me too enjoy. The bready character from the nose, comes through as a cereal note on the palate.

Glass: pours a red/golden color w/ a small head. Scents of berries with a little alcohol. Flavors of sweet toffee, berries, and some sherry. It’s a little sweet for me to drink regularly, but the bottle says it’s a malt liquer, and I would put it up against 40 oz of anything, anytime, any day!

12oz bottle. 1722302 in the black box on the back of the bottle. Filtered and bright ruby amber hue. Tight ring and web of cream colored head. Toasty toffee malt aromas. Cooked sugar and a noticable whiff of alcohol. Big sweet sticky malts, big fruit and alcohol warmth. Finishes rather dry and crisp. Hits all the tastes and palate. Toffee and caramel. Big red berry notes. Definite port notes. Short lived yet big effervescence. It stumbles and accosts the palate rather than pleasantly rolling over. Bold flavor definitions. I love sweet sticky beer, and this is in that ballpark. But I have had better, and from the same brewery.

12 oz bottle, aged nearly a year. Pours a lovely clear ruby with fizzy, vanishing beige head. Massive toffee aroma with sherry warmth, red licorice sweetness. Ungainly on the palate, with strong oxidation metals countering an initial fruity sweetness, huge brandy-like alcohol presence and faint medicinal hop finish. Thin on the palate, but quite sticky afterwards. OK once in a while.

Golden, actually more red-brown with a nice, creamy and lasting head. The aroma is malty and slightly hoppy. The mouthfeel is fat and warming from the alcohol. The flavour is sweet and malty with notes of roasted malt and candy sugar, and the rather long finish has a light bitterness. In spite of the high ABV it’s surprising that the alcohol isn’t more obvious in the flavour. It’s not one I’ll buy again, but it’s fun to have tasted it.

I think that the circumstances under which this beer were tried would greatly influence my rating of this beer. As it happens, I think that I enjoyed this beer within the perfect setting-- in front of a warm fire, Christmas tree lit up beside me, Christmas songs playing in the background, Scrabble game with my wife. Pours a clear copper amber with a yellow, sponge-toffee head that is surprisingly as short-lived as it is dense. English toffee, bourbon, wood aroma. Flavours of toffee, brown sugar, with a sherry touch to its character and a definite subtle kiersch flavour in the finish. Very warming but nat at all harsh, sweet but not cloying. A perfect winter sipper, and along with the circumstances, I enjoyed it very much!

ruby amber color with a very small off white head. toffee oak aroma. syrupy thick body. roasted maple wood taste with a light orange liquer note.

Pours a deep amber color with a thin tan head that leaves quickly. This beer has a strong malty caramalized sugar and toffee smell to it, a bit of brown sugar and dark fruits at the end of the sniff. Taste is again more caramel and toffee. Sweetness is present but not too sweet or overpowering. I feel this is a fairly balanced beer, alcohol is noticable though. I need to let this warm up a bit and sip again.