Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel

Pours a clear medium brown color with a thick and lasting head that leaves a great web of lacing all the way to the end. Aroma promises that this will be a Malt Bomb© Magjayran (that’s right, it’s my term). Hints of apple juice and caramel in the nose. Flavor has a bit toffee and a bit fruit and very sweet from start to finish. Problem is, it seems a little watered down.

darker amber with ruby highlights. Aroma is a small amount of chocolate, sweet malts, specifically caramel and toffee, vanilla undertones. The taste is sweet and roasty caramel malts, light chocolate also, with a slightly watery palate, smooth finish.

Bottle, purchased in Grand Island, Nebraska of all places. Poured dark red brown with a big foamy head and good lacing. Really strong nose of burnt malts, along with some fruits, nuts, and chocolate. Very smooth palate. For something so rich looking and smelling, it was actually a tiny bit dry, which added to its charm. Good to the last drop.

Bottled. Red/brown in colour. Foamy beige head. lacings. It has a lightly malty aroma. The flavour is surprisingly watery with hints of burnt malt. It has a malty, dry and sweet aftertaste.

500mL, no date. Pours a clear reddish brown with a moderate, beige head. The first aroma I picked up on was dry dog food. Not necessarily bad, it just was. Also aromas of nutss and toasty malts, light maple syrup and a little raisins. Taste is a little stronger in the dark fruit/raisin category, a small amount of bitterness noted, though it seems more from the malts rather than the hops. I can pick up on coffee if I try really hard, though I can’t tell if it’s because I have a decent palate or because in the description they throw that word in--kinda placeboish. I’m also picking up on a slight smokey flavor. At least I don’t taste dog food. Lighter bodied, moderate carbonation, light roasty lightly bitter finish. I think I’ve had only one dunkel, which was Warsteiner. This is much better. Very nice beer.

Deep coppery red color. Firm beige head that persisted. The aroma was more yeasty than malty. Flavor began with dark fruit and hints of chocolate.The texture is a bit thin, but the fruit is balanced by hop at the finish. A lager so good that it could have been an ale.

The 500 ml bottle poured a clear and dark red like a root beer. The mild carbonation made a thick light tan head with variable granularity that quickly dispersed and left a lacing like a fractal. The aroma was mostly bready and malty with a hint of raisins and alcohol. The flavor was not too sweet with a surprisingly light body and mildly bitter taste; also tasted of prunes and coffee, and was mildly spicy. Smooth and light and a slightly hoppy finish sneaks up on you. Not the dunkel I was hoping for but a good beer otherwise.

Rating No. 500. Bottle. Ruby amber pour with a lacy light brown head. Smells of malt, caramel, and toast. Flavor is much the same, big and malty, a little more brown sugar. Aftertaste is long and dry, and the lingering roast borders on ash. Tasted a bit more coffee-funk toward the end. Didn’t knock my socks off, but a very good example of its style. Thanks to joss!