Hansa Urbock

Bottle 340ml. @ [ Ulfborg Tasting ]. [ As Namibia Urbock ].
[ Courtesy of Maria ]. Clear dark red amber color with a average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, bread, roasted, caramel, overriped raisin, moderate to heavy syrup. Flavor is heavy sweet and light bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily - syrupy, carbonation is soft. [20081202]

Pours dark brown with ruby edging and a thin tan head. The aroma is quite sweet, with plum, raisin, prune and dark chocolate all present on the nose, with a hint of malt. Urbock surprised me with its intense flavour. The roasted malt hits hard, with the prune and dark chocolate flavours coming through next to balance and smoothen the mouthful. Toffee on the finish with a cherry-like zest left on the palate. There is a hint of alcohol on the finish, but otherwise its 7% ABV is well-hidden. Smooth and sweet, would be perfect to enjoy a cigar with.

33cl bottle. Witbier glass (500ml) [Only clean glass available at the time]. A lovely dark red pour with a nice off white head. Head went too soon. Dried fruit aroma with head malt too. You can smell the ABV. Full strong mouth feel. There’s a hint of ether / ester in the after taste. Balanced malty flavour with a smaller bitterness. Nice for a beer from Africa.

Pours dark red/brown, almost no head. Aroma is mainly a sweet burnt malt, with a fruity apple kick to it. Taste is light to begin with, as the fruit firstly greets the tongue. Right behind is a beautifully balanced chocolaty roasted malt flavour. Achieves a very nice balance between the sweetness of the malt and alcohol and chocolate bitterness. Very drinkable at 7% ABV and attains some nice complex flavours.

The color is dark, red-brown and the head is creamy. The aroma has notes of malt, syrup and raisin. The flavour has sweetness and loads of syrup and some raisin. In the slightly dry finish, I also find notes of licorice. The sweetness is a bit too strong, but apart from that, it is a nice beer.

(Bottle 34 cl) Clear orangey brown with a dense, creamy, beige head leaving laces. Aroma of roasted malt, Danish rye, nuts and and alcohol. Quite full-bodied with plenty of sweet, roasted malt, burned caramel and nut accents. Subdued bitterness. This really is a genuine malt bomb, and this is an excellent Bock. No denying that Namibia is an old German colony. 120508

Tasted 13/03/2008. 330ml bottle from Regional Wines and Spirits. Bright garnet red, luminous, with a tight beige head that lingers. Milk chocolate, raisin, and crusty bread are all picked up in a beautifully rich, and cleanly fermented, Munich-style malt aroma. Very rich but hides the alcohol. Quite oxidised in the mouth, a little papery, but the malt richness keeps the flavour up and makes it drinkable. Low-med bitterness. Med-dry finish, with the alcohol hardly apparent. Full, weighty, lowly carbonated mouthfeel. Oxidation leaves it feeling a little tired on the palate. An excellent beer that falls away, probably because of a packaging issue.

Tasted this at the end of it’s shelf life so not the best, having said that i can see why it’s such a good beer even though it’s slightly funky. has a lovely smokey character to it and a slightly dry finish, the alc % is well hidden.