Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Bier Helles

[Bottle] Pours a perfectly clear gold with a small head that dissipates quickly to a ring around the edge of the glass. Aroma is a bit grainy, some sweet alcohol, lots of apple, a bit of green grapes, and some golden raisin. Absurdly sweet palate. Thick and syrupy, with some lighter fruity flavors. Alcohol on the finish leaves a lasting impression.

Clear amber colour with a small white head. Malty, light grainy and alcohol sweet aroma with fruity notes. Caramel malty flavor with an alcohol and fruity sweet note.

Deep gold, almost amber, with a quarter-inch white head. Sweet, fruity malt aroma and a rich, fruity malt taste. Big alcohol presence. Almost a barleywine character. Very, very nice.

2007 Bottle Date; Sampled August 2008
A vigorous pour yields a fat, one-finger thick, pale tan colored head. The beer is quite clear with an amber hue, but shows a brilliantly clear, rich gold color when held up to the light. Quite sweet and concentrated smelling with complex, rich, though obviously pale, malt aromas that just seeps from the pores of this beer. Concentrated golden raisin notes (without being fruity though), some notes that are similar to an ice-wine, almost a toffee not but cleaner somehow, something that is a touch metallic or perhaps calcium like and some rich, slightly grassy, toasty, pale grain notes. At this point the aroma is a touch simplistic, though certainly not bad; like the regular version this really seems to need a couple years to come in to its own.

Thick and somewhat creamy feeling up front, a persistent carbonation that, while light, adds a touch of fizziness to the middle of each sip is also noticeable. That distinct, concentrated golden raisin, without being fruity note is also here in the flavor and plays a significant role. Quite sweet tasting, it could actually use some richness, though this last will likely come with a couple years of age. A touch of herbal hoppiness in the finish is noticeable, though it is quite muted compared to the malt and there is only a perceived, light hop bitterness in this finish. Some hot alcohol notes provide a bit of spiciness and a touch of warming; this last lingers as the beer slides down my throat and even warms its way down through to my belly. While rich and certainly a sipping brew this is actually not as cloying as I thought it would be.

Like the regular Samichlaus, this is definitely a bit green / hot when young. This should age quite well, and really won’t be drinkable for at least two or three years if not five.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Bottle at Chris o’s…amber,sweet light hop,overpowerful spirity fruity juicy hop with quite a burn

This is the new Samichlaus Helles. It tastes fairly close to the original, just a little lighter in color. Pours a golden pale amber with a minimal white head. Aroma of figs and spice. Cloyingly sweet, but very well balanced. Taste is caramelized sugar, sweet pale malt, rock candy and vinous characteristics. Alcohol is dominant, but not overpowering. This is one heavy brew!

Pours brilliant deep gold with a copper core and zero head. The aroma is pungent and nearly pushes you away from the glass. The aromatic notes seem to change with each whiff. I get a quick pulse of cherry hard candy followed by grainy Munich like malts. A continued draw only brings copious amounts of alcohol heat burning the nose. Other sniffs can be full of sweet sugary malts. The taste is sticky and sweet to start. It’s pure sweetness bleeding into fruity esters with notes of prunes, figs and raisins. It then gets a bit peppery before chemical like alcohol notes take the experience into the finish. At the finish and into the after taste a grainy malt note surfaces and mixes with cherry hard candy as the alcohol sensation slowly fades away. Very warming finish and the term “hot” certainly applies here.

A Mes rate: Bottle at Chris O’s Pre GBBF Tasting
Looks like a thick helles. Tastes like a fuel injected helles. Too hot, too much sugary sweet alcohol. Everything underneath is decent. Nice fruity hops and malt and reasonably balanced if you take the alcohol away but damn. Too much.