Schloss Eggenberg Spezial Dunkel

Brewed by Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg
Style: Dunkel
Vorchdorf, Austria

Unusual bottle-top -- it's literally a peel-off. Clear dark brown body with medium tan head. Aroma is caramel and lightly vanilla. Taste is stronger vanilla, some caramel, but truthfully not much else. Body is smooth, somewhat creamy and fairly light. No real complaints, but this beer isn't for me.

Draft at the Saloon in DC. Dark and cloudy amber brown colored body with a tall brown salt-and-pepper speckled head. The nose has a moderately strong spiced juniper and wood note, with a heavy presence of doughy brown sugar yeast. The flavor of soggy bread and semi-sweet malt syrup is about as much as you can get out of this one. Just a faint bit of hops near the finish, and some mildly fruity wood and bread notes make up the rest of this beers flavor spectrum. A bit watery and thin, overall.

1/2 litre bottle. Poured nicely, with a pitch black hue, solidly opaque, and a substantial amount of Germanic off-white foam sheltering it all from the top. The aroma is sweet and slightly chocolatey. The chocolate is also my very first impression in the flavor which also carries a mellow marshmellowy malt. Not the most stirring beer, but a quality quaff nonetheless. (#3322, 2/14/2008)

Bottle with a pull tab cap. That’s a new one for me. Pours dark ruby-laden brown with a small foamy tan head. Nose is caramel, sweet malts, light vanilla, and some light maple notes. Taste is vanilla, caramel, creamy sweet malts, and some light root beer notes that have been previously mentioned. Body is light-medium with minimal carbonation feel. Finishes sweet with light cola, vanilla, caramel and sweet malts. Not bad at all!

Bottled(500ml). -Dark brown coloured, medium sized tan head, dusty caramelish nose. Light roasted malt and mild chocolate taste with nutty and toffee notes. Also nutty finish. Just average dunkel, and to be honest I’ve expected more. Hm...first rate from Europe...

Bottle; pours dark. Flavors of chocolate, sweet malt and cola. Beer is pretty good in flavor, but the palate was a little off. Some bread and caramel.

Pull tab cap, reminds me of popping open a Mickey’s grenade back in the day. Yikes. This luckily tastes a lot better. Dark brown, touch of red, decent head fades slow. Aroma is bread and chocolate. Flavor is matching, with a bit of straight up malt and some caramel. Decent stuff for those who like a thicker dunkel.

When Vanilla Coke comes out, I suspect it’ll taste a lot like this. Loads of vanilla and cola in both the nose and flavor. Nicely creamy. If it does taste like this, I’m kinda looking forward to Vanilla Coke.