Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Bier

Brewed by Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg
Style: Doppelbock
Vorchdorf, Austria

Aroma: interesting, yeasty. Dried fruit - figs, raisins. Dough...sweet malt. Dried fruit & red wine.
Flavour: sweet, tuna, malty, biscuity... not that good. I blame the fish flavour.
Appearance: obscene, orange brown, sugary, clear. Some thin yellowish, quickly diminishing foam.
Palate: sticky, thick; sharp bubbles; however not too carbonated.

nice strong beer, one of my favorites. reminds me of an old ale spiced with pepper. a good winter warmer, especially when aged a year or so after the brew date. has a nice warming feeling too. finishes strong, like the way it outta be.

I don’t know about it being the "world’s most extraordinary beverage" but it is pretty good. Creamy and warm with a strong and distinct alcoholic taste. It goes pretty well with something sweet but the alcohol is a little too strong for me personally. I hear it gets better with age so I’ve decided to save my last one dated from 2006 for next year. We’ll see what I think then but for now It’s a good beer but nothing too extraordinary.

I had big big hopes for this beer. The bottle overhypes it with claims of being the worlds most extraordinary. And with a date of 2005, making this beer 3 years old. I expected something special. What I got, was a good brew, even a unique brew, but an extraordinary brew.......not so much. That being said, I still enjoyed this beer, pours a mahogany brown with no head. The aroma is very sweet, with alot of raisen and apricot on the nose. The flavour is very sweet, too sweet, syrup and molasses with a bit of vanilla, and warm whisky alcohol. The mouthfeel is thick, syrupy.

I had the 2006 batch. It is amber with a tiny bubbly head that immediately vanishes to nothing at all, but remains a bit bubbly. The aroma is very odd and off-putting, being a bit of fruit, grain, toffee, doughnuts and apple fritters, plus an odd element that I can’t place. The taste is, thankfully, much better, and it does have an intriguing quality, some nice flavours and feel, body and complexity. The taste is very sweet, with hints of apple fritters, sherry, fruit, and a faint roasted grain element that comes through, with a hint of flowery bitterness letting you know that this is, in fact, beer. The alcohol is clearly evident, although not as much as I’d expect at the strength and it is less noticeably alcoholic than other weaker beers I’ve had, aside from the full, oily feel and warmth. I kind of like it, and sipping a little is fine, but I can’t drink much and the smell is not pleasant.

This is a real treat. Its very smooth, no bitter taste. It leaves a very warm felling after every mouth full, probably to do with the ABV 14%. Although its classed as a Larger its more of a dark ale. Each bottle has the year it was produced in on the top of the label, the one I’ve tried was from 2007.

I looked forward to tasting this strong, dark amber beer. It’s a vintage 2004 and I tasted it November 2005. The aroma has notes of roasted malt and dark fruits. The flavour is initially very sweet, but then it’s just a nice sweetness wit notes of roasted malt, candy sugar, dark fruits and towards the finish also citrus. It’s incredibly full-bodied and even it it’s 14% I do not find notes of alcohol - pretty impressing! And it is an impressing beer - to put it short!

2006 vintage. Pours the lightest dopplebock color I have ever seen. Looks like light orange copper. Decent sized yeasty head that fades somewhat quickly. Smells like sugar and malt, taste like a barley wine minus the hops. Great caramel beer.