Hurlimann Samichlaus

Formerly brewed at Hürlimann (Feldschlösschen)
Style: Doppelbock
Zürich, Switzerland

Serve in Dimpled mug, Stein, Stem glass

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5 ounce sample from an ’06 bottle at a winter beer tasting. Intensely sweet, malty goodness. It is pretty much a desert in a glass, and at 13 %, one is enough.

Bottle 25cl vintage 1997 ! An amber brown beer almost without head. Nose is rich on dry grapes notes, sweet, fruity, prunes. Aroma is voluptuous on dry grapes, slightly sweet, very drinkable, burning alcohol on aftertaste. Caramel and floral presence, vanilla notes, figs, port like, terrible as so easily drinkable.

Stark alkoholischer Geruch, die Schärfe scheint durch die Alterung genommen. Deutlihe Alterspuren, süßlich, aromatisch. Sehr aromatischer Antrunk, malzig, stark, man merkt das Alter, das aber am Anfang noch wenig stört. Im Gegenteil, das ier wirkt sanfter und ausbalancierter, die beißende Schärfe, die ich erwartet habe, ist durch die Alterung genommen. Wenig alkoholisch, würzig und krätig werdend, dies verweilt auf hohem Level. Dennoch harmonisch, zum Ende hin schwächer, die Altersspuren sind hier deutlicher, gleichzeitig wird das Bier auch schärfer. Sehr sehr gut! Riesen Dankeschön an den Doppelbock für das Teilen der Rarität! Test vom 30.3.2008, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: -,13,11,14,12,13 - 12,77

T’as promis à ta blonde que t’allais arrêter de boire mais qu’entre temps t’allais ralentir et en prendre juste une après souper dimanche. Une fois la vaisselle finie, tu te débouchonnes une sournoise Samichlaus en remerciant tous les pères noel du ciel pour ce présent. Mère noel: attends-moi!!!

Bottle. Pours a dark bronze with minimal light tan coloured head. Great aromas show lots of sweet caramel, dark fruits, candii sugar and port wine. Very sweet with just a hint of sourness. Flavours are equally sweet without the complexity of the nose. Some alcohol burn comes through on the finish to balance the sweetness only slightly. Agree that this one is definately a sipper. Good stuff.

Bottle from 01. Pours a dark amber color with very little head. Has a sweet malty smell to it maybe a little raisin in there as well. The taste is about the same with a little booze in there but for a 14% beer it well hidden

In short: The ultimate decadent lager, period.
How: Bottle 12oz. Vintage 1996. Consumed when about years of age!!! Bottle sent to me by tytoanderson, thanks a lot Tyler
The look: Cloudy dark burgundy body topped by a small beige ring of foam
In long: The strong nose is full of rich dark fruits, toffee and port wine. Taste has A LOT of fresh figs, date cookies, chocolate soaked dark cherries, thick toffee, earth, bakery chocolate. The barrel aging blends with the sweet flavors and adds a maple sensation. Body is as full as full can be and carbonation is appropriately relaxed. You can tell this is a high abv beer by the thickness of the body but the actual alcohol remains surprisingly well hidden. The beer is obviously uber-sweet but it was never gross or cloying, just very filling. This is the ultimate decadent lager. After only a few sips of my bottle I though “Wow, that stuff is so great that I could filter it through my dirty socks and drink it out of my jogging shoes and it would still taste great”. However it turns out that was an exaggeration. What a waste. Now where am I going to find myself another 1996 Samichlaus.

A: The pour is a dark, dark brown color with some serious opaqueness and almost no head. S: Smells quite sweet and fruity, especially of plums, prunes, and raisins. There is a lot of chocolate going on here as well as caramel and perhaps even some maple syrup. T: A similar level of sweetness on the palate, but nowhere near as overwhelming as I would have expected. Some nice dark fruits, milk chocolate, caramel, maple syrup, and toffee all combine to make a pretty nice flavor profile. M: The body is medium with a low to moderate level of carbonation. D: I was very pleasantly surprised by this. I am not a very big Samichlaus fan when it’s fresh, but it appears aging the beer about 15 years is a good idea...

Dark espresso color with a thick syrup like appearance. Very sweet aroma, like raisins or some other dried fruit. Taste like it smells, sweet and malty. Very strong and definitely needs to be sipped.

Aroma: Yeasty, caramel, spicy, alcohol, portwine like, figs. Appearance: Nice amber color, moderate head. Taste: Sweet, umami. Palate: Full bodied. To sweet for us. Not our kind of beer.