Pages

Friday, 7 January 2011

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen

I was a little concerned about this, after reading peoples comments on the Ghostdrinker post about the smokiness and some able to only drink a half. Doesn't sound fun to be honest, and on ratebeer people talking of it tasting of meat, its beer for christ sake, i mean come on, meat???.

Its described as: 
"Bamberg’s speciality, a dark, bottom fermented smokebeer, brewed with Original Schlenkerla Smokemalt from the Schlenkerla maltings and tapped according to old tradition directly from the gravity-fed oakwood cask in the historical brewery tavern."

 The disinctive taste is made in the malting process thus:
In order to stop germination and to stabilize the involved biochemical processes, the green malt must be dried (kilned). That is where the secret of the Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer lies. A beechwood log fire underneath the kiln heats the air, and the smoke gives the malt its typical smoky flavor.

Okay, onto the beer, i thought of the two i bought i would start with the Marzen rather than the stronger Urbock.  And i dusted off my big big Krusovice glass for the pour.
Upon opening a sniff from the bottle gives me....bacon?!! A real smoked bacon aroma, woody ash too.
Its colour is a dark ruddy brown, with a small froth of a head.
Next another surprise, its not as smoked in the mouth as i was expecting, a good medium body with smoke yes, but a sweetish malty taste too. And before i knew it I'd drunk more than half of it, a dryness was forming in the mouth. The second didn't go down as quick but it was okay, i had some German ham from Aldi with it, and that worked too.
So in all an interesting experience, still a little apprehensive about the Urbock though!

5 comments:

  1. So did you enjoy it then? I worry about Leigh at the good stuff blog. He says he has a new years resolution about this beer, but won't let slip what it is? I hope he's not filling a bath with it. (or freezing it to slice up and put on sandwiches!!!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marinade his own ham in it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Enjoy it, ummm, yeah i think so! I mean i wouldn't have had a second right after it, but i would have it again another night. Interesting style of beer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A great beer, and the Urbock is fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glad you enjoyed it. It is definitely an interesting beer. If you can find it, try getting the Eiche from Aecht Scherlenka (I hope I spelled that I just did that from memory). The Eiche is toned down a bit on the smoke but still with good flavor.

    ReplyDelete