Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock

Bottle from Beersofeurope.com. Pours a deep, dark brown with a beige head which lasts only fleetingly. Aromas of raisins, dark fruits, plums, caramel. Flavours of roasted malts, molasses, chocolate, wood, pears. Finishes sweet and moderately bitter. Belies it’s strength, very easy to drink.

(Bottle, Stockholm Beer Festival, 26 Sep 2009) Deep ruby colour with frothy, beige head. Malty, slightly roasted nose with notes of raisins and prunes. Malty, roasted taste with dried fruit, raisins and dark bread. Well balanced and smooth finish with a mild, spicy bitterness. More than medium body, balanced sweetness. Lovely balance with a solid malt character makes this a very enjoyable, slow sipping beer.

Bottle. Clear cola brown beer with beige head. Very rich aroma is malty and a bit caramelly. Flavor is even richer. Sweet maltyness, coffee and some chocolate even. Quite bitter in the end. Full body I’d say. This beer is truly enjoyable and very tasty.

Dark mahogany with a thick tan head - impressive appearance. Aroma of caramel malt and honey. Some earthy yeast aromas when swirled. Flavor is dominated by sweet roasted malt and honey. A little bit of licorice in the aftertaste. Solid beer, but not crazy about the sweetness.

Bottle. Pours a dark brune body with an off white thin tan head. Malty chewy almost extract like sweetness, some dry roasted malt. Some roast y malt notes and caramel. Raisin and chocolate notes.

bottle 500 ml from Alko 3,45€ EXP 25 02 2010 dark brown transparent Taste sweet dark roasted malts bready bit sticky but decent bitterness in dryer aftertaste. Better than I expected .

Bottle and served in snifter, next to Kaufbeuren Buronator Doppelbock, Allgäuer Cambonator Doppelbock, and Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock (the baseline bier):

App: All three had a mahogany hue with the Buroator and Asam bocks displaying a bit more reddish highlights as well as a darker more tannish creamy head and better lacing. Cambonator gets the lowest score of 3, the others 4 each.

Aroma: Buronator, heavy caramel malt, bready and alcohol, some prune and fig along with a touch of peaty like smoke, brilliant. The Cambonator displays a walnut tone long with caramel, brown sugar and grape juice, interesting. The Asam bock has the weakest nose of the three with notes of caramel, wood, tobacco, grains, and a hint of raisin.

Taste: Rich and sweet caramel malt is front and center as expected in all three biers as is a hint of molasses. The differences are found with the undertones: Buronator has a figgy and roasty tone along with a dash of mineral water. It seems despite the heavy malt to be the most balanced of the three. The Cambonator has a very slight acidity (again grape juice) and some ashy notes. The Asam has more of a bakers chocolate tone and is more earthy and tobacco like, the most complex of the three.

Mouthfeel: Buronator, creamy and lively, Cambonator, lively and oily, a bit thinner, Asam lush and heavy, dry mineral finish.

Overall: While all three are well done and similar in the basics, the difference of enjoyment and complexity gives Buronator a slight advantage over Asam Bock with the Allgauer Cambonator my least favorite. This is interesting since the Buronator has the lowest ratebeer score of the three. Now when compared to the standard bearer of the style, and Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock ( 4.2), I found both the Buronator and Asam close companions but still a second cousin, The Cambonator was not even in the same zip code. Ahhh, the wonders of the horizontal tasting.

Poured from the bottle into a pint glass to drink. The beer had a somewhat clear dark amber-brown color with a creamy-foamy light tan head, which had moderate retention and cling. The beer had rich caramel malt aromas with floral and fruit aromas, some raisin and a bit of earthy hops. The beer had a sweet fruity taste with a bit of grainy bitterness to complement it. It was slightly creamy with average to light carbonation and a wet body with a good, clingy mouthfeel. A high quality beer, very much enjoyed.