Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel

Brewed by Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg
Style: Dunkel
Kelheim, Niederbayern, Germany

(Bottle 50 cl) Dark brown with a huge, brownish head that simply refuses to dissipate. Soft and smooth with notes of roasted malt and only a discreet hint of hops. Typical South German dark lager - very delicious. 020503

Darl ruby mahogany crystal clear with medium size lasting mixed suds and fine bubbles, mid beige colour head. Lightly smoked sweet brown rice malts coffee soapy aroma. Thin soft mouthfeel. Flavour wise its a pleasant enough brew, mostly sweet malts and bit of bitte hops at the end. I would like to see a little more intensity in everything but I guess that is part of the lighter dunkel style. Very similar to the Weihenstephaner dunkel but maybe with a slightly better aroma. I guess I’m not a real straight dunkel fan.

Bought at Fenaknoken in Oslo, Norway. 41 NOK for 500 ml bottle. Excellent dark lager. Nutty malt, nice balance of sweet and bitter. Very tasty. Plum. I enjoyed it on its own, but might go well with red meat.

(500 ml bottle: $2.29 at Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA) This can’t be right. I just bought this bottle recently, and I see the date on the bottle is 11-Feb-2001. Wow, it sure seems like dunkels handle aging extremely well because this is another example of a beer that is supposedly well past its prime that still tastes great. Well, maybe it’s not a great tasting beer, but it’s solid enough and doesn’t seem negatively impacted by the age. It has that familiar and very welcomed dark, toasty, slightly chocolaty maltiness that seems common in German dunkels. This one seems slightly sweeter than the others I’ve tried, but that doesn’t make it less enjoyable. Light bitterness tags along for the ride nearly unnoticed. Oddly enough, despite being quite flavorful, this isn’t a very aromatic beer, showing only a modest amount of toasty and earthy maltiness. This gently carbonated beer has a medium body. Medium brown in color and quite clear in appearance, the crown is light tan, creamy and well over an inch in height on the pour. As it slowly settles to a thin, complete layer, it leaves only a few small patches of lace on the glass. Well, this is the last of the nine Weltenburger beers I’ve sampled that is imported into the U.S., and I think I’ve saved one of the best for last. A solid dunkel packing lots of flavor and enjoyment. Although the age may have something to do with that as it seems to me that with dunkels, aging intensifies the malt flavors.

500 ml bottle, bought in Bier Spezi Hamburg. Clear brown to copper coloured, large light tan head. Pleasant aroma of lightly roasted malts, caramel, chocolate and bakery (including rye bread and Danish pastry). Lightly roasted malty flavour, fairly mellow, bready notes, some caramel but not really sweet, decent hops for a dunkel. Mouthfeel could have been fuller. Moderate but pleasant aftertaste. Okay.

(Bottle at Fynske Øldage) Malty and burnt sugar. Clear dark amber color. Thin mouthfeel. Bready, malty flavor. Like malt candy. Same goes for the palate.

As dunkels go, this was on the heavier end. Notes of coffee and cocoa, more sweet than dry, with nuttiness and bitter nut astringency and grassiness in the finish. Large slowly receding head. Some roastiness (mild). I like my dunkels a little drier, but this was nice.

Rich, dark syrup aroma. Moderately sweet, roasty, almost like a Baltic porter. Nice label and bottle, mahagony beer, slightly off-white head. Molasses richness. This was pretty well-balanced, but roasty and flavorful. Not bad. A turn of metal and astringency dings the palate slightly.