Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel

Brewed by Brauerei Aying
Style: Dunkel
Aying, Germany

Brown in color with a fairly substantial head. Roasty aroma with bits of grain, sugar, and dark fruits. Roasted, bready-cereal taste with plenty of good malt. Enough sweetness to make it good, but not overdone. I’m newer to the style, but I do like this one.

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.

Dark amber, white frothy head, spotty lacing. Aroma has a really nice, nutty-toffee malt character, dark frutis in the background. Flavor is mellowed toffee and dark fruit, toasted cereal like character through the middle and finish. Mouthfeel is creamy smooth. Decent overall.

Sample courtesy of Jbo. Pours a clear dark amber with a ring of off-white head. Sweet plum on the nose, with lots of soy sauce and raisin in the flavor. Okay, but possibly oxidized and didn’t really do anything for me.

Another good beer from Ayinger. Do they make anything bad? Aroma was roasty and toffeeish, almost like a burnt sugar smell. Appearance was a crystal clear dark coffee color, minimal head and little carbonation. Mouthfeel was a slightly better than average, although I would have liked something a little more lively. Flavors were really malty, part roasty, somewhat sweet, and very little hops. It was a little dry going down. Overall a pretty good beer, although its not quite up to par with the rest of Ayinger’s line-up. Still, it’s good though.

(Bottle) Pours a copper-ish reddish brown colour with a creamy off-white head. The aroma holds caramel and bread from the rather wort-like maltiness. Some hops in the background. The flavour is light to medium sweet and light bitter. Metal, dry caramel, light dark bread and light hops. The mouthfeel is clean, maybe too clean, I would have liked a rounder profile. Near medium carbonation. Light after bitterness. Light to medium bitter.

500 ml. bottle. Pours a light brown/red with a strong white foamy head. The aroma is pretty light; some malts and a sweet brown sugar. The taste is really smooth and fairly light; mostly rich malts with some dark fruit, brown sugar and perhaps some coffee. Really easy to drink, but also really good.

50cl bottle from Kingdom Liquors (Tampa, FL). Pours a clear dark brownish red with a thick and frothy tan head. Good retention and lacing. Aroma is sweet and malted with notes of chocolate malt balls, caramel, molasses, some hoppiness, and just a faint spiciness. Flavor is smooth and creamy with roasted malt, dark chocolate, some dark ripe fruit, raisins, and some faint spice. Generally medium to full bodied with a pleasant sweet and malty finish.