Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Bier Helles

THOUGHTS: Not a bad beer, but not a good doppelbock. It didn’t look, smell or really taste like one. But it also wasn’t really like a Helles either, so I guess saying it is a doppel isn’t that strange. Can’t wait to age a bottle, because there is potential, but this fresh bottle was like sweet tasting jet fuel. The fumes nearly made my eyes burn. Bonus point though, because it was better than the sum of its parts. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a light orange, with a small. white head that fully diminished and left no lacing. The aroma was moderate to heavy malt, cherry and alcohol. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and lightly bitter; while the finish was heavy to harshly sweet and sour with a short to average duration. There was super sweet malt and alcohol. The medium body was sort of oily but mostly just felt like alcohol with soft carbonation and a moderate to heavy alcoholic finish.

This clear orange ale poured with a short head that quickly disappeared. There is a strong citrus and malt aroma. This is not a doppelbock, but rather a strong ale or a barleywine. The flavor is fruity and sweet with notes of honey, and leaves some heat on your palate.

Bottle 11.2 oz: Stong malt aroma. Amber pour with minimal head. Strong sweet malt tatse but very smooth fruity finish. Tates clsoer to some barley wines I’ve tried then some of the Doppelbocks I’ve had... very good.

33cl bottle from Total Wine (Tampa). Pours a clear amber with a very thin head that dissipates quickly to near nothing. Aroma is malt, bread, yeast, apple, pear, phenol. Taste is sweet and malty with notes of honey, phenol, sweet pear. Strong phenol notes hit about mid-drink until finish and the alcohol really comes through in this one. Very strong but overall very enjoyable.

330ml bottle, 2007 vintage. Big, sweet malt nose, plenty of brown sugar and dried fruit character, with notes of anise, golden raisin, toasty bread, vanilla and overt alcohol. Clear light amber color with a lasting, fine head and very fine lacing. Flavor is very powerfully malty and rich, incredibly sugary, honeyish malt dominates, being tempered by the peppery alcohol and moderately bitter, spicy, warming and incredibly long finish, showing hints of maple sugar and old wood late. Active, full mouthfeel with a very generous body. Really actually pretty nice now, but certainly would make a good long-term cellar candidate as indicated.

Bottle. Grassy, lemon-citrus nose with a little foot-funk and dried fruit. Touch of grainy alcohol. Sugar and malty stickiness. Noisy, aggressive pour burns itself out, a pale orange-amber with a quickly gone head. Taste is cloyingly sugary sweet with a huge wallop of alcohol and the associated burn (which dominates everything). Pleasant warming in the throat and tingling in the cheeks. Sweet fruity notes, incl. lots of peach and some white grapes, with lots of pale malt. Does remind of a dessert wine. Sticky lips. Fullish body but edges closer to medium. Sweet and delicious sipper, but loose and sloppy! And enough to get you sloppy drunk.

Enjoyed this one much better than the Urbock 23° that I got at the same time from Booze Bros. The nose was sweet with a strong honey profile, yeast, and a touch of light fruit. Very sweet on the palate with another strong showing of honey, apple butter, alcohol and malts. Hides the 14% very well, but it does poke it’s head out now and then.

Aroma is sweet with malt and honey scent and an alcohol tone on the end. Color is a deep gold with good carbonation and a nice white head. Taste is sweet and cidery. Starting with a light medium body it goes down with a crisp feel. Finish comes in with a bright sweetness that seem almost like apple cider with a touch of honey, then just a slight bitterness shows. After taste is a bold alcohol taste and warming feel with a little fruit flavor coming out as the alcohol fads away. This is a unique and complex brew. The alcohol seems to add to the flavor in a way I have never seen before.