Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen

A deep red beer with a good head. The aroma is tar and smoke dominated. And the flavor is very powerful and dominated by tar and smoke. Really a great beer.

Dark amber with rich, stable head. Densely smokey aroma, quite reminiscent of smoked ham. Full bodied with big maltiness and nicely salty, very bitter finish. The intense woody smokiness is there all the way through. Simply a world class beer in it’s own style.

(Bottle 50 cl) Dark brown, with a nice, lasting beige head. Rather dry, not that heavy but solidly smoked throughout. The smoke almost drowns any other flavour, and takes some getting used to. But whenerver that happens, this turns out quite quenching. I doubt that smoked beers will ever be a clear favourite though. 091200

I'm drinking this right now. Oh my shit this is good stuff. I'm the kind of guy that would drink this with smoked cheddar and a peppery salami. I've you've never had it, picture Laphroaig with dexterity and you'll be in the neighbourhood. The smoke permeates everything, I swear even the appearance. Don't get me wrong - I'm biased. I go through a dozen chipotles a week, I use smoked paprika (if you can find it, buy it), smoked cheese of all sorts (applewood, idiazabal, van den hoek's smoked gouda), south shore Islay malts (I'm a member of the Ardbeg committee) and I like pretty much anything else that's smoked. But all the same, a couple dozen smoked beers later and with the possible exception of Fischer-Greuth, I still feel Schlenkerla is the best. I await its annual release in Ontario like nothing else.

Draught at the brewpub. Clear brown coloured with a solid brown head. Aroma of malts, smoke and hops. Smokey flavour of malts, wood and hops with some sweetness. Hoppy finish. The bottled edition is more smokey but less sweet and hoppy (6-3-6-3-13).