Mike Loves Beer

Name – Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock
Country – Germany
Type – Rauchbier

Sometimes 4 days off from work just doesn’t seem like enough.  I mean I accomplished a few things that needed to be done.  I ignored a couple more but overall I feel like I didn’t get enough rest.  Oh well I guess I can wait until next weekend.

But to end my weekend I opened up something I’ve been wanting to try for awhile.  Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock is from a line of rauchbiers made by the German brewery Schlenkerla.  Back in the days of  my old reviewing style I reviewed the marzen from that series of beers.  I was a bit overwhelmed by my first smoked beer then but have learned to really like the style.

For awhile we only got the marzen down here while the urbock and weizen versions were no where to be found on South Florida shelves.  But recently the urbock has been making appearances in the Germany sections of stores so I finally decided to pick it up and give it a try.

It pours a brown color into my nonic pint glass.  I has some reddish highlights along the edges of the glass.  There is a nice tan head that actually sticks around for a bit and leaves it’s mark with some lacing on the glass.

The nose is packed full of smoke as you would think but there are some nice other notes in there.  There are notes of cherries and wood in there as well.

The taste starts off with a smoked hickory taste that gives a very bacon like taste.  There are some hints of maple in there to give some sweetness to it.  This is like a breakfast side in a glass.

Overall I really enjoyed the urbock.  I sipped it over a couple hours and enjoyed it just as much each sip along the way.  It’s not something I can drink all the time but it would rather be reserved for special occasions.  It actually gets me quite excited for a BBQ I’m hosting at my house next weekend.

While I can’t really say that the end of a long weekend is necessarily a special occasion it was a nice way to cap off the weekend last night.  If you are looking for something interesting for a BBQ this is definitely a beer for you.  So go pick up a few and throw something on the grill.

Grade - B-

Name – Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen
Country – Germany
Type – Rauchbier

Appearance – Poured a very dark red with some almost brown or black areas in the middle.  Finger wide off white head that disappears quickly.

Smell – Woah! Smoke hits you as soon as you pop the cap off the bottle and start pouring.

Taste – Very smokey flavor with hints of roast malt and black licorice.  The smoke flavor lingers in your mouth for quite some time after sipping it.

This is my first rauchbier and I kind of new going in that this would be intense.  Even with my expectations of a smokey beer I was still caught off guard by it.  I think you really need to drink this while eating some good barbaque to really appreciate it to it’s fullest.  I just had it by itself and struggled through it.  That was a bad call on my part.  Next time I pick this up it will be in a plan for some good food off the grill.

Overall Grade – C+