Schloss Eggenberg Urbock Dunkel Eisbock

Urbock Dunkel Eisbock. Eisbock or "ice beer" is a unique German beer style, or lagering method, in which a beer is refrigerated to the point in which a percentage of the beer freezes. This freezing process, removes water from the beer, and actually concentrates the beer, giving it very potent aromas, flavors, and alcohol. The gravity of a beer will become higher, the bitterness sharper, the color darker, the alcohol higher. Urbock Dunkle Eisbock is an outstanding example of eisbock, and is one truly delicious, and flavorful beer. This beer is brewed with Pilsner, Munich, and roasted malts, and is then hopped with Tettnag, Saaz, and Malling(an Austrian hop variety) hops. It is lagered for three months, then moved to another vessel with refrigeration tubes, which freezes 10% of the beer, and concentrates it, making it an eisbock. Urbock Dunkle Eisbock is a rich, complex, smooth, flavorful eisbock, coming in at a warming 9.8% abv. Urbock Dunkel Eisbock pours to a beautiful, deep, deep brown color with a very slight tan head that fades and a soft carbonation. When held to the light this beer is actually a brilliant, deep chestnut color. The nose on this beer has an incredible sweet malty/chocolatey nose, akin to malted milk balls. The palate delivers more concentrated, intense malty flavors of sweet and chocolatey malt flavors, hints of roasted coffee, a touch or raisin, and a very rich, but smooth, polished lush body and mouth feel. Dunkle Eisbock finishes with more intense, complex malty flavors, and ends a touch cloying, with a warming alcohol burn that lingers. This beer is an awesome display of complex, deep, malty aromas and flavors. This is what eisbock is all about, malt, malt, and more malt. This type of beer style is the perfect strong winter beer to sip and savor, next to a roaring fire on a cold winter’s night, and is the perfect beer to relax with. This beer is intense, but with all those big aromas and flavors, comes a smooth, round, polished character, that makes this beer just so welcoming. This is a world class brew and one that you should seek out.

Pours a dark honey color with little froth yet ample residual effers. Smells like wet alfafa. Medium full nectar. Sweet berry flavors that dry slowly leaving a slight bitterness on the finish. With the sweetness, you can really tell how the hops come into play to ballance it out. Well ballanced and alcohol flavors are non existant. Overall; I highly recommend this brew.

This is a beer meant to be savored, not slammed. Its gorgeous deep garnet color is as inviting to the eye as its malty nose is to the olfactory lobes. Smooth as silk, with notes of coffee and vanilla melding with a carefully applied hop presence, this is one of the best fireside beers you'll ever have. What's that you say? You don't have a fireplace? Strike a match and watch it burn as you sip this wonderful example of the brewer's art. Can be enjoyed in summer as well--but not in the daytime before using a lawn mower. I use a goblet-sized brandy snifter glass....

Beautiful beer and what a concept! Sweet, malty aroma, with the scent of conditioning. Malty taste that hides the nearly 10% alcohol. This is whywe drink beer.

Update 3/4/2004 - Having worked through 7 of these over the past month or so I feel that I must update my rating:. This beer presents a gorgeous sparkling dark brown ruby body topped by a fantastic creamy light brown head. This is one fine looking beer. Aroma is caramel, sweet toffee and meaty gravy. The flavors are excellent complements to the smorgasbord of aromas, toffee, earthy and meaty flavors also abound, meaty in a good way. The body is big and chewy, so big that it coats the teeth with a wonderful sheet that the tongue just keeps on savoring. This is a very good beer. Eggenberg is one hell of a brewery. In fact I would go so far as to say that Eggenberg makes the best lagers around.