Schlenkerla

Helles Schlenkerla Lagerbier - The helles from Schlenkerla.  It pours a clear straw gold with a decent head that quickly dissipates.  The aroma is subtle, giving no clue to the taste that will hit you.  Smoky flavor permeates every sip with just a hint of hops bitterness.  The finish is crisp and clean and leaves you wanting another drink.  The Rauchbiers (Smoke beers) are a little different taste but I like them and they would definitely go well with a smoked brisket or chicken.

Aecht Schlenkerla Weizen - The smoked weizen from Schlenkerla.  It pours a dark cloudy brown with hints of reddish amber.  A generous beige head slowly dissolves into a fine layer atop the beer.  This beer really looks like a dunkel weisse.  The aroma is pure smoked malts.  The taste is smoky with some hints of spices...a touch of cloves.  There is virtually no taste of citrus, bubblegum or banana that is typically found in a German Weizen, just the smoke and the hint of spices.  The smoke on this is almost overwhelming, it's tasty but it might be just a little too much for some folks.

PrivatBrauerei Fassla Lagerbier

This weeks Rauchbier is the Lagerbier from the Privatbrauerei Faessla.  We didn't stop into the brewery here but I've got it located for future reference since I hear good things about their food as well as the beer.  Here is what I thought of the beer.

The Privatbrauerei Faessla Lagerbier pours a golden amber with little to no head much like the other rauchbiers I've reviewed.  The aroma is distinctly smoking malt but more malt than smoke.  The flavor is hoppy with just a hint of the smoke and the finish is smooth and dry.   A pretty good beer.

This is the last of Rauchbiers of Bamberg that I either tried in at the brewery or brought a bottle home.  Since there are many more to try from there and we'd like to see some of the other sites there again, I'm sure we'll be headed back.  That means look for more Rauchbier reviews next summer.

Klosterbrau Bockbier

This weeks Rauchbier comes from Klosterbrau in Bamberg, it's their Bockbier, a Helles Bock.    They brew seven other types of beers but this was the one that I grabbed off the shelf at the Getranke markt to try.

This beer pours a golden amber with only a little bit of head.  Lots of tiny bubbles make their way to the top.  The aroma is smoked malt but not nearly as overpowering as the Aecht Schlenkerla Urbock.  The flavor is overwhelmingly malty with just a hint of smoke and underlying taste of hops that carries through to the aftertaste.  Not a bad beer and it went well with some smoked cheese and summer sausage.

Spezial Brau Rauchbier Lager

The Spezial Braueri was our next beer related stop in Bamberg.  It was also on several recommended sites lists and according to one you can actually watch the brewing process.  I saved that for another day and just concentrated on sampling their beer.

The waiter made fun of us as I snapped a picture of the lager in it's glass, he wanted to know if I wanted to take a picture of Shantel's water as well.  OK I know I'm a tourist and it shows no matter how much German I learn and how European I try to dress.

The Spezial Brau Rauchbier Lager poured a reddish amber with a light head that dissappeared rapidly.  Unlike the Aecht Schlenkerla Urbock that I reviewed last week this amber only had a light smoky aroma.  The lager also tasted light and watery (I'm starting to wonder if that's not a characteristic of Bamberg beers)with only a light smoky flavor followed by some hops.  All in all a pretty drinkable beer.  I could see myself drinking 3 or 4 of these at a sitting as compared to the one or two of the Urbocks that I reviewed last week.  Shantel even liked it, pretty high praise from her.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

While home on R&R the family and I took a quick day trip to Bamberg Germany, home of rauchbier or smoked beer.  The breweries in Bamberg are actually listed as one of Germany's Best Breweries.  They were also listed in our Germany Day Trip Guide Book, it also had many recommendations from our friends who had been here before.  So how could we pass it up.  I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the Bamberg Cathedral, the New Palace with the Rose Garden, or the river cruises.  So if you come to visit us you'll probably find yourself making the 90 minute drive up to Bamberg with us.  But back to the beer.

 A rauchbier gets it's smoky flavor because the malt is dried over an open fire.  To sample our first rauchbier and to get a bite to eat we stopped into a place called the Schlenkeria Braureiausschank that was recommended in our guidebook.  To read more about it's history and rauchbiers click here. 

Since I like bocks I tried their Urbock (Original Bock), that they only offer in October.  It poured a deep amber that was almost black with virtually no head and no tracing.  The intense smoky aroma penetrated even my stubborn sniffer.  The beer itself tasted thin almost watery with a only a little bit of hops flavor penetrating the overwhelming smoky taste.  Overall I'd call it interesting rather than good but it did go well with the boiled pork belly (that's a whole another story) and saurkraut.

I picked up two bottles from different breweries in addition to stopping in another brewery to sample their beer before leaving.  So look for reviews of those in the next few weeks.