Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen

Brewed by Brauerei Heller
Style: Smoked
Bamberg, Bayern, Germany

500 ml bottle. Pours a dark ruby with a brilliant glow when held to the light. Small beige fizzy head with decent retention due to the fairly active carbonation. Aroma is everything that you could ask for from an unapologetic smoke beer. Campfire smoke, beef boullion, toasted malt, and bacon. Summed up in one word- mouthwatering! I could just smell this beer and be happy for an hour. Flavor has alot of toasted malt, fairly dry at first taste. Then the smoked meat bomb that is the beauty of this beer hits you like a train on the finish. Minimal amount of alcohol on the finish that lingers around forever. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with very active, yet soft, carbonation yielding a fairly creamy texture. This is the tops as far as Smoked beers go. Truely amazing, everything you could want from a Smoke beer.

Pours a dark brown with a small tan head. Beautiful sweet, smoky aroma. Reminiscent of smoked almonds. Fairly light mouthfeel with heavy, meaty notes mid palate and definite smoke. A little like drinking a smokehouse and I mean that in a good way. Makes me think of real good bacon. Great Rauchbier but you better like smoke.

500mL bottle. Pours a very dark, reddish cola-brown color; light tan head with solid fine-bubbled lacing. Fantastic smoky aroma: beef jerky, smoked meats, charred wood, and some spiciness; just an intense, spicy and pleasurable smoke character in the nose. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: relaxed carbonation; charred firewood, smoked meats, smoked gouda, and spiciness dominate the mouthfeel: chewy, full, intricate smokiness; just awesome stuff; the malty core suggests a lightness that adds a lot to drinkability: some sugar and breadiness, but barely perceptible underneath all the smoked malt; I’ve been craving to try this beer again for a while. Lengthy finish: spicy, smoked meats, charred wood, and nicely dry; no unnecessary sweetness.

Deep amber in color with some orange highlights. Aroma: Alot of smoke, charred wood, smoked meats- pork, and some sweet caramel in the back as well as light notes of fruit. Taste is very smoky, with smoked ribs/sausage, wood, with some caramel malty sweetness and fruit. Finishes smoky and smooth.

Bottle, picked up from The Little Beer Shop, Ludlow, Salop, 10-03-07. This was the first time that I’ve stumbled across a Rauchbier and now I’m hooked it was wonderful. The beer poured very dark brown and had a sublime smokey and woody aroma. The taste was equally wonderful with an intense smokiness, almost kipper like and gentle bitterness, very quaffable and fascinating for me to try a style such as this. Loved it

A dark, reddish brown beer with a thick, beige-white head. A distinctly smoky nose, an immediate hit of smoky wood, there is a slightly sweet, malty follow up, but this is engulfed by the initial smell. The taste is the same, dry and smoky, almost reminiscent of smoked bacon! The malty sweetness is just about recognisable towards the end. The aftertaste is long, dry, and slightly bitter.

Cask @ Schlenkerla, Bamberg. Dark brown color with small head. Smokey aroma. Very soft and smokey. Bottle. Dark brown color with large head. Very smokey aroma. Very soft and smokey. Really enjoyable beer.

Sampled today (from bottle) at Mecklenburg Gardens in Cincinnati... This is a superb rauchbier. Color is dark brown (cola) and is surprisingly clear. Aroma and flavor are both an amazing smoke with a hint of meatiness behind it. The smokiness is rich and completely permiates this brew, but it’s a bit hard to describe. It isn’t like burned or charred wood, it isn’t artificial in taste or smell, and it isn’t overpowering. It is meatly, rich, and satisfying. The finish is dry, slight char, and some bittering hops come through. Medium body, but full on the tongue. Overall, this beer has a rich and complex malt base and deep smokiness to it. It is a wonderful sipping beer and would probably be well acoompanied by fine cigar and would also go great with many types of food. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and look forward to trying it again, the other rauchbier offerings from this brewery (they also make a wheat and ur-bock version), and other smoked beers in gerneral. 500 mL bottle.