Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Bier

11.2 Oz Shared Bottle-Poured a clear brown color w/no head-looked like pouring wiskey into a small glass. Obvious aroma of alcohol-@ 14% I guess so! Very much like drinking a brandy or burbon, really didn’t remind me of a beer (or bier) at all, not even a Barleywine, but it was very good. Crisp sweet nutty flavor. Definite winter warmer. Definite high alcohol kick. Long sweet finish. Good for after dinner, you can get one bottle & split it w/a few people like we did-like sipping a Brandy or liqueur!

“Malt Liquor” proudly adorns the front of the Samichlaus beer, warning weak tongues and weaker stomachs to stay away. If that doesn’t do it, then the enormous 14% ABV might, enticing only iron bellies and chronic drunkards to grapple with this beer bomb. The head is porous and spongy, glistening with a Colgate toothpaste white sheen. The body is a disappointingly tame amber color, looking like every amber ever made. A shame considering the pungency of the Samichlaus and the toothlessness of every amber I’ve sampled. The smell is heavy with alcohol, but the haze is not so thick that I can’t detect other sipid elements. Apple, fish oil (in a cooked, delicious way) and malt vinegar draw out the beer’s basic outline. It is semi-sweet, semi-savory and clocks in with a wheelbarrow of malts, working in a functional triumvirate. The taste brings a lot more fire fuel. Caramel and burnt wood coat the tongue with a plastic but delicious sensation, leaving enough exposed tastebuds for the cranberry and milk chocolate to play their sweeter roles. Alcohol comes in waves, dashing itself against the crowd of other flavors, which eventually succumb. A dry, burnt and woody aftertaste stands victorious on the tongue, before it too collapses with exhaustion. It’s a powerful beer, and from the first sip I was hooked. At the last sip I was pretty well buzzed, which may animate the beer in its duller, warmer moments. A pleasure to drink with nice tastes, it remains a little bit simple but still a gut warmer when the windows and doors suffer from poor caulking and insulation.

Yearly sampling of this beer with my good friend Terry...

2002 -- 11.2 oz bottle. Clear, dark amber brown color. No head or crown of any kind. No visible carbonation. Aroma is well aged malt, candied fruits, and port-like. Flavor is sweet, deep maltiness, and dark fruits (also a bit like port). There also seems to be a hint of butterscotch deeply hidden in the flavor. The alcohol is well integrated into the overall flavor of the beer. Warming, sweet, malty finish. The alcohol is almost competely masked. Medium to full body. Smooth and creamy on the palate. Overall this is a complex beer and has aged very well.

2004 -- 11.2 oz bottle. Clear, ruby amber color. There is a thin beige crown after the initial pour, but it settles out quickly. The aroma is a blend of sweet caramel malt and aged Calvados. Richer, deeper caramelized malt flavor with a bit more alcohol burn than the 2002. There is also a hint of vanilla/oak woodiness. It reminds me of a sweet bourbon in some ways. The finish goes from sweet, to dry, to sugary sweet again. Medium body, slightly sticky and syrupy on the palate. Overall this beer has also aged well and I think I like it just a hair more than the 2002. It just seems to have a touch less sweetness and greater fine spirit (bourbon/whiskey/cognac) complexity.

12oz brown bottle from the natural foods store in Manchester (ME). Amber-red translucent body with a thin film of off-white head. Smells alcoholic, fruity, nutty, and malty. Tastes malty, fruity, spicey and alcoholic. Almost no carbonation apparent. Thick, sticky, syrupy mouthfeel. This one’s definitely a sipper. Not particularly drinkable. I’m doubting if I’ll be able to finish the glass in front of me. Not sure if I’ll get this one again, though I’m sure it’ll grow on be as it warms, and I’d love to see what this one would be like after a few years of aging.

This beer was opened in celebration of a nice bonus and pay raise at the job and a good day in the stock market as well. Pours crystal clear amber with a tiny white head that disappears instantly. (typical for high proof beers). Bubbles of carbonation float gently up through the thick beer like amber champagne. Aroma is of sweet malt and alcohol. The beer tastes like a very sweet malt bomb, but not cloying. Each sip starts with the sweet malt, then delivers a mild alcohol burn and fades to a saaz hop finish. Definitely a sipper. Interesting and complex. For most people, including me, this is a one time try. Too expensive, rare, and off the mainstream to drink more than a few. It always amazes me that people will complain about the alcohol content of beer.. Like a fine brandy or liquer, this strong beer was perfect for the occasion.

2006: Copper in color. Non-lasting foam however more carbonation than expected. Very sweet, yeast (spicy), suryp, hazlenuts and bitterness in the finnish. Lots and lots of alcohol. Feels like hard liquor almost.

2001: Less sweet the younger one. Lots of chocolate, raisins and dades in the taste. Also hazlenuts. Loads of chocolate in the aroma. Darker in color. Feels less alcoholic but it still stings. Like this one a lot better. Some acidity evident in the younger one is gone here.

Somthing like that. I guess overall impression put down in three words would be sweet and warming.

This is just not my type of beer. The high alcohol was overpowering. The rediish brown color was clear and inviting. There was little head that disappeared. The sweetish taste lingered and finished astringent.

On tap at the Lazy Boy Saloon. Deep, hazy amber/brown with faint traces of a head that quickly disappeared. Smell was sweet and malty, taste was strong, and sweet. Very potent taste of alcohol, along with chocolate, caramel, and a port like taste as well (hard to define exactly). Interesting, but the alcohol seemed to overpower everything else in this beer.