Schloss Eggenberg Urbock 23°

Brewed by Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg
Style: Doppelbock
Vorchdorf, Austria

I think the low rating on this belies its goodness on draft. I have not had it in bottle so I am not sure about this, but I think this is a very solid beer. Caramel malts predominate this creamy, syrupy beer. Solid.

Bottle. Golden pour, no head. Aroma of smokey malt, booze and candied fruit. Flavors of light smoke and sweet malt. Thick mouthfeel...syrupy thoughout with a sweet finish.

A prime example of how over the course of many years your tastes can change considerably. Hated this the first round of times I tried it. Today, perhaps, my palate has arrived. Medium clear gold, slight head. Aroma was sweet honey malts, a touch of molasses, bread, fruits, yeast, and alcohol. Flavor matched, with honey sweet malt giving way to a lightly floral hop bitter finish. Sophisticated and complex, this was great. NOTE: sampled again on 10/14/07 as part of a BJCP training session. I couldn’t remember if I had liked this previously or not when I re-rated it, but my notes were virtually identical, except I did not note any fruitiness this time and did detect some booziness. I’ll leave up my initial rating, the rating from today would have been only a couple of points lower though. Final comment from today’s notes was "actually quite good." I need to remember that I enjoy this beer now.

Bottle shared by nolankowal: Pours a clear golden color with a white head. Aroma, yeasty, some pale malts, a bit of spice. Flavor, pale, bready malts, yeasty, some faint spices, a bit of alcohol, but nothing overpowering.

Bottle. Nice golden colour, medium white bubbly head. Malty aroma, some honey and a little alcohol spicyness. Spritzy mouthfeel. Vinious, slightly metallic, sweet with a caramel edge. Nice and powerful.

Pours a golden color. Malt, honey, and alcohol in aroma. Malt, alcohol, with hints of caramel in taste. Malt liquor like. Could see the comparison to Cognac. Very strong tasting like its brother Samichlaus

12 oz bottle pours a light golden blonde with medium activity carbonation and a quickly fading white head. The aroma is that of raisins, cinnamon, dough and alcohol. The taste is incredible, having both strong citrus and floral aspects. The endtaste is that of honeydew with a slightl earth and grass combination. It is very silky and floats on the tongue.

Bottle. Pour is a deep golden color... minimal head and medium to high carbonation. Aromas are sweet like apple juice. Looking at the description on the site here, I’m pretty excited about trying the "cognac of beers." I’ve already had the "champagne of beers," so this is a lovely new feather in my cap. Flavor is decidedly sweet... apple juice sweetness with some honey mixed in for good measure. Mouthfeel is very silky, but the carbonation mixes things up a bit. I’d say this is much closer to cognac than Miller is to champagne. Alcoholic warmth is present and it flaunts its 9% ABV a little bit. Things don’t transition so well, though and it kind of falls flat at the end of the finish... just comes off strong and sweet, without too much to capture my interest.