Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock

Brewed by Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg
Style: Doppelbock
Kelheim, Niederbayern, Germany

Big huge honeyed-toasty-malty richness with adventurous notes of hay and barnyard, a sublimely excellent treat from Bavaria.

It never ceases to amaze me how the smell of good, richly done malting can arouse the senses and be so absolutely pleasurable. So with this beer. The taste ain’t bad either.

Bottle. Deep clear copper, brief and fizzy neige head. Wonderful roasted toffeish malt aroma, with notes of dried fruits, and some earthy and woody notes. Medium bodied and soft carbonation. Well balanced with a sweet start and a long dry finish.

Purchased in a 1 pint 0.9 oz bottle. Pours an opaque midnight brown, thin head but nice lacing. Aroma is very malty and very pronounced. Full palate as expected from a bock with a crisp hop aftertaste. I like to experience the palate of a beer before I review the flavor, because it is easier to describe. The flavor is somewhat sweet, but not cloying with hints of prunes. Kind of reminds me of a Thomas Hardy, but much more muted. Very impressive. By far, the best doppelbock I’ve had.

(Bottle BB 09/10/07) Roasted malty, caramel and chocolate aroma. Dark brown red colour and small, light brownish head with a hint of lacing. Roasted malty, dark bread-like, coffee, chocolate and port winous flavour. Lively carbonated, warming (hint of alcoholic), medium to full-bodied and sticky palate. A splendid beer! 05/08/07 (original rating was 8/5/9/5/17)

Bottle. Extremely dark ruby beer with a creamy, rocky, lacy light brown head. Smells of sweet malt, caramel, brown sugar; even has an aromatic hop presence. Taste is sweetly malty with lots of dark ntoes and even some roasted. Brown sugar, dust, toffee, molasses, chocolate, caramel, toastmalt, touch of spiciness ... but really, the story here is the massive amount of malt. Full-bodied, alcohol is well-hidden, slightly terminal warming but not too much. Slightly sticky, but really only on the lips. Medium-dry hoppy finish. Have to force myself to slow down whilst drinking. Superb!

Pours clear yet dark amber with infra red edges and firm wavy frothy nearly creamy tan head. Great looking brew. I can get a sense of the aroma from three feet away. Upon closer inspection I get a pleasing combination of roasted malts, some graininess and sweet caramel candy to go along with a light amount of estery sting. Good gravy, the taste is luscious. I get rich roasty malts mingling first with a moderate level of dark fruity esters and then creamy caramel. Wow. By midway I’m detecting a bit of chocolate malts, biscuit malts and mild nuttiness. This is bold yet smooth. Just delicious.

500ml bottle thanks to and shared with funkybrewster. Pours a very dark, almost clear, red with a thick creamy light tan froth with some lacing, settlings into lovely super fine bubbles. Aroma is super fruity, like a fruit-snack/gummy-bear, rich grainy malts, lots of malt flour, very light chocolate, touch of grass 6.5. Mmmmm the flavor is wunderbar, endlessly malty, loads of grainy malt flour, some faint bitterness that adds dimension, bitter chocolate and malt flour, like drinking rye bread, fantastic 8.5. Flavor brings huge nostalgia of when my grandfather used to make me chocolate malts as a kid. It isn’t rich but perfectly sweet. Long lingering chalky bitterness. No hint of any alcohol, well just enough to warm the flavor. The body is near perfect for flavor and style, avoids being syrupy or sticky like so many sugar doppelbock messes, smooth ubiquitous super fine carbonation 4.5. Love it.