Einbecker Ur-Bock Dunkel

Brewed by Einbecker Brauhaus
Style: Dunkler Bock
Einbeck, Niedersachsen, Germany

One bottle from BOTW. Bottle. Pours a deep amber color with a small white head. Aroma of yeast, sweet malts, caramel. Flavor is malty, sweet, with slight bitterness. Decent brew.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is alcohol, malt, fruit, caramel. Flavour is sweet, caramel, roastiness, fruit. ok.

Pours a solid amber, rather clear, very sparkling. The head is small, dense, yellow-offwhite and leaves nice lacing. The aroma is of pale malt, hay, and the faint spice of hops. The body is light, sudzy, slightly chalky and leaves with a pretty clean finish. The flavor is of medicinal hops-- quite bitter (25 or 30 IBU). There is the flavor of grainy pale malt and there is a smooth warmth at the end. The aftertaste is almost like coriander seed. This is the first dunkel I’ve tried. I don’t get german beer yet.

Bottle. (1990 vintage) Even though it had been inside the bottle for 17 years, it still poured clear. Not much carbonation though, but with a dark brown color and a small off-white head. The nose had a little bit of oxidation, as well as malt, caramel and a little roastiness. Most of the hops had vanished from the flavor, but there were caramel, malt and beef-stock enough to make it a pleasant drink. Medium body and a finish with caramel. It has been a while since I had a fresh sample of this one, but as far as I remember, it was better lagered.

This time, a fresh bottle, at least not after the BB-date. Clear, quite sparkling, copper body, and a dense, off-white head that diminishes but lasts, and leaves nice lacings. The nose is a bit more grainy and alcoholic than I prefer, with some caramel and hops. Even a little fruity-sweet hint. The flavor is a bit alcoholic as well, at least to my standards for a dunkler bock, followed by grain, caramel, hints of dried fruits and fruity and resiny hops giving it a pronounced bitterness. Full body, slightly sticky feeling when it goes down the throat. The finish is rather bitter, but the fruityness, grains and a little alcohol from the aroma and flavor follows you to the very end. I would like it more sweet tasting, and not so resiny bitter, but it is a fine beer. Rating: 6-4-6-4-13-3.3 (070829)

Original rating: 7-4-7-3-14-3.5 (070331)

330 ml in pint glass. Barely cloudy copper beer with a large khaki, lasting head with nice crusty lace. Appearance is of a standard APA (Just for my own reference, I know this beer is a lager, and almost 400 years older than the USA!). Aroma is mild fresh apple and subtle lager yeast (no skunk). Flavor is mostly nicely toasted cereal -wheat, rye and oats with toasted pecans and a touch of brown sugar. I wasn’t really expecting much of this beer, but it is pretty flavorful for a lager. I think that’s what they mean in the description by strong, robust taste - for a lager. Nice creamy, light-to-medium palate. This beer is really better than a lot of APAs and ambers out there.

Comes out a little sour/acidic and a little flat. Alcohol flavor is strong. Malt is smooth and sweet, despite all this I cant help but open another one! great with some german meat/potatos

Small white head. Brown body with light carbonation. Sweet caramel and marzipan aroma with alcohol and earthy hop notes. Sweet roasted caramel and burnt almonds taste with alcohol and metallic buttery earth notes. Full-bodied. Oily mouthfeel. Very harmonic. Bittersweet metallic roasty grassy aftertaste. Quite subtle, but different, and interesting. Very good! (0.33l bottle. Rated twice.)

Huge, very dense cream-coloured head over clear foxy-amber beer. Sweet-bready nose, but at the same time malty, drier aroma. Caramel, coloured malts, parsley, malt syrup. Very "beer-y", very German nose. Much more bitter taste than the nose would suggest. Certainly hops, but also the taste of burnt caramel. Further speculoos , but un-sweet, with discreet spices and herbs as parsley, horseradish or spinach. Ends dry-bitterish, long. Medium to full body; creamy, velvety texture, the persistent head helping. Hops retronasal, but indifferent ones. Quite good Bock; it has a history to uphold, and succeeds effortlessly. Still, not a beer I’d call an all-day preference.