Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock

Big big thanks to jtw for this one, been chasing it for a while. Bottle 2004: Mahogany pour, with a very thin tan head. Aroma had raspberry, roasted/chocolate malts, and a bit of alcohol. Flavor, raspberries, a little tart, and more rich dark malts. This was damn good, and well worth the wait. Re-Rate 2004 bottle (12/12/06): Chocolaty flavors have taken over from the raspberries. The fruit is still there, just really takes a back seat. Still really good, but different. 4.4 Re-Rate on tap at Ashley’s (12/13/06). This stuff is just amazing, raspberry is back in front. I guess they have been keeping this barrel refridgerated the past 2 years, so it’s kept the raspberry from declining. Excellent beer. 4.7

Reddish brown ale with no head. Aroma of choclate and raspberry, smooth and pleasing, with enticing character, and warming alcohol. Very nice. A black forest cake enters the mouth. In mouth, smooth raspberry liquor, chcolate alcohol, chery blossom in a bottle. rich and smooth. Mondial 2006.

This beer isn’t really a dark red, and it’s not really a dark brown. I mean..it’s brown, but look slike squished raspberrys mixed in brown with a bit of red. There was no head on it, but it seemed pretty lively. I’m always bad at aromas, but this one let the raspberries through very well. There was a chocolate note, and some caramel in there as well. I decided to have this for desert and a desert it truly is. It’s pretty thick and is reminiscent of chocolate raspberry cake, but the chocolate doesn’t come through that well and the raspberries, while promenant, aren’t quite the same - more subdued I think.

2004 bottle. Not easy getting all that wax off the top, but built some anticipation anyway. From the first phhhssst of the cap I could smell the beer. It poured out a dark brown with really quite lively carbonation (thin streams of tiny bubbles) and a surprisingly rich caramel-cream foam for its abv. The aroma is very accomplished--it has a vintage quality but not like a 1986 Lees which is just oxidized caramel. Rather, it’s like caramel melting in a wood pot, with some raspberry toffee, partially dessicated oranges, vanilla, and tootsie rolls (cheap chocolate candy) thrown into the mix. The palate is rich enough, coating my lips with stickiness, but there’s a lot of carbonation, too. The flavor is fine, though I can see how it doesn’t turn everyone on. I had a chocolate raspberry cake today actually (for my 35th birthday, happy birthday to me!), and that may have reached a little bit better balance of the two; the raspberries here are very subtle, amid a dense caramel-chocolate, rum-raisin (you said it Tad), and a slightly toasty toffee, like a creme brulee. Extremely drinkable, not tasting anywhere near 10.6%, though by 2/3rds through my bottle I’ve had enough for one sitting and would prefer to go on to something else, like a port perhaps. Very nice beer, though in the sweet, fruity, high alcohol category I think there are a lot of other beers and drinks (fine ports and meads) that clearly surpass this in my enjoyment category. Thanks the lutheran for passing a bottle my way (in exchange for my being a research subject for him!)

Beer pours dark red color with a tan color at the fringes. Aroma is raspberries, very alchol popish, like Big Red with vodka, some rum and raisins. Flavor is that of a base brown ale with lots of raspberry flavor; hot alcohol finish. Some raisin flavor too. Quite delicous, but not up to the hype for me.

Dark ruby, almost no head, no lacing. Smells like black chocolate with nuts (pralines) but no raspberries. The raspberries show-up in the taste along with the chocolate and some earthy flavours. Very sweet. Alcohol well hidden. Almost no carbonation. Medicinal flavours and cough syrup mouthfeel (a six-pack of this and I feel cured of everything). I was a little disappointed by this famous beer firt time I had it (bottle: 4.0) but I had it again draught at EBF 07 and I’m raising my score to 4.2. Still nowhere near the top-10 non-retired beers (according to global ratebeer ratings) and not even worth the ultra-high price tag.

2004 bottle. well, i loved it. wish there was more. dark burgundy color, looks like a wine, basically no head. the smell changed a bunch as it warmed up. at first mostly raspberries, later on pure raspberry dark chocolate. perhaps because there’s only 6 ounces, i spent a ton of time smelling it, and what a great aroma. there was alcohol in the flavor, but not too much. raspberry wasn’t too pronounced there. i agree it wasn’t top 50 worthy, but it was still awesome.

2004 bottle. Pours out dark purple with no head. Looks brown when you wipe it off a wood floor becuase your friend’s bitch-ass cat jumped on your arm while holding it. Aroma is mild raspberries, chocolate, and alcohol. Flavor is much of the same. A lot more chocolate than I was expecting and a lot less raspberry. I’d like to try this fresh but I would suspect the alcohol being even more pronounced. Not even deserving of top 200. Though good for an Eisbock.