Hurlimann Samichlaus

Formerly brewed at Hürlimann (Feldschlösschen)
Style: Doppelbock
Zürich, Switzerland

This, in my ever so humble opinion, is THE perfect beer. I’ll agree with a previous rater who said it isn’t for the inexperienced. But, if you know and love good beer. Good strong beer. This is a beer that can’t be beat. The nose on this stuff just about sends me into orgasm, and the flavor is balanced and intense. A wonderful beer. (I had the 1996 version in 2000.)

Bottle from 1995. Pours brown with no head. Smells of licorice, lots of dark fruit, some sugar. Taste blends the mess this beer is fresh into a beautiful layered treat that yields lots of licorice, dark fruit, some residual sweetness. An excellent beer that does well as an after dinner cordial. This beer never ceases to amaze me.

1996 VINTAGE: Maybe the best beer I ever had. Followed it with the 02 vintage. The 02 was great, but didn't even come close to this. I'm told it was very expensive to brew, and that's why Hurlimann stopped brewing it. Don't know if this is correct or not.

10/2/04. Poured out of 330 mL bottle, bought at Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel CA 12/12/03. 1991 Vintage. RateBeer GABF tasting. This is possibly my favorite beer of all time. And this bottle was exquisite. Dark brown sugary brown, no head but nice legs and thick syrupy coating on the glass. Hazy and chunky-- there are dark black flecks stirring around in the beer, almost like coffee grounds in appearance (but with no apparent flavor-- at least not one I can detect apart from what else is going on in the beer). Phenomenal aroma. Huge dark caramel and chocolatey fruit-- dates and fig. Mouth-watering and amazing. I’m glad I passed on the dessert. Flavor doesn’t disappoint a bit. Huge butter toffee, caramel, and more dark dried fruits. Nice warming alcohol but supremely elegant and refined. Velvety smooth, very full mouthfeel. Superb, long-lasting and decadent finish like an almond roca dessert sauce. Layer upon layer of rich candy depth. I know I’m in the minority who actually finds this beer even enjoyable when it’s young (even the Castle Eggenberg stuff), but I’ll tell you just like everyone else-- if you can get this stuff with at least a decade of wisdom under its belt (the older, the better), you’re in for a damn fine treat! It’s ridiculous to call it a doppelbock, and even more ridiculous to think of it as a lager, but it doesn’t really matter anyway. It’s a different kind of beer from anything else I’ve ever had, and I think it’s probably my favorite beverage of any kind. Simply stunning.

Bottle: 1996 vintage courtesy of MikeMac. Great aroma. Aroma is loaded with chocolate with brown sugar, a hint of whiskey, fruit, and oxidation. Pours a dark cloudy amber with a small tan head. Flavor is sweet with chocolate, caramel, whiskey, light brown sugar, light apple, and oxidation (a positive in this beer). Perfect mouthfeel, syrupy and silky. Light alcohol burn and flavor. Absolutely fantastic beer and a close to perfect as you’re going to find. A bigger head and some better lacing away from being a perfect 5, but what can you expect from a 9 year old beer.

1995 Vintage: Courtesy of Sregnar via trade. First thing that is pretty obvious is the distinguishable difference in carbonation. This one had quite a bit of carbonation and poured almost as if I was pouring a soda. Fizzy off-white head that diminished quickly. Aroma seems more powerful too. The glass is sitting about 3 feet from my nose and I can still smell the great aromas. Aromas are the same but the whiskey seems stronger than I remember in the 96 and brown sugar seems to have taken the place of any fruit aroma I smelled in the 96. Flavor is much the same with a tad more oxidation and roasty flavors in the finish that I don’t remember tasting before. Chocolate, whiskey, molasses, brown sugar, and light fruit. A hint of sourness comes just before finish and then blends with the roastiness. Light burn and alcohol flavors. Still outstanding, but I would go with the 96 over the 95. Rating for 95: 10-4-9-5-19

Having had the 1995,96 and 97 vintages I perfer the 2000 vintage.The malt character is more pronounced.This is a world class beer.

1995 edition (no joke!): Among the best I’ve ever had. Nice looking reddish-amber. Yeasty aroma, reminding me of the Chimay Bleu 1995 I had last month. UNBELIEVEABLY COMPLEX. Alcohol, prominent chocolates, especially in the finish. Hazlenut, milk, cashew, so much going on! Mild bitterness, just enough to let you know it’s there. Very thick, satisfying mouthfeel. Hard to believe that the ABV is so high. Judging by other reviewer’s comments, this should be aged for 5 years before being sold; it must be completely different when young (see Oakes’s rating). I smelled the empty bottle a couple of hours later and indeed it had a soy sauce aroma reminiscient of a Sam Adams Triple Bock. By extrapolation, perhaps Sam Adams TB is actually worth a damn two hours before you open it? Thanks to npdempse for pointing out that I had erroneously rated Eggenberg Samichlaus originally.

Re Rate: I just tried a 1996 vintage of this while i was in LA. it was incredible. I drank it with a caburry’s chocolate bar. it really brought out the chocolate maltiness of the beer. 1996 was much better than the 1997 one i had back in september.