Thom arrived over to Beer Nut Towers on Saturday evening carrying a swing-top flagon of Eggenberg Urbock 23°. With assistance from some other guests, we managed to put away all two litres of the 9.9% ABV dark Austrian lager.And it's tasty stuff, though takes a bit of getting used to, what with the intense sugary sweetness. Until it warms up a bit there's not much else to be said about it, but after a while the strong boozy flavours start to kick in, with burnt caramel and more than a hint of sherry, accentuated by the minimal carbonation levels.
This is very much a beer for considered post-prandial sipping. Eggenberg have a number of distilled beer products in their line and this stuff tastes like it's already half way there.
Cheers Thom. You're welcome to revisit when you've refilled the flagon.
No sweat. It was great to share the beast of a bottle of a beer with friends. Interesting about their distilled products. The Urbock was treading a fine line.
ReplyDeleteWhich is no small task for a big fat bugger like that.
ReplyDeleteBought a small wee bottle of this last time I was in Austria. The cloying sweetness of it was much too much for me. I couldn't take it at all. I had seen the flagon in Redmond's, but I remembered that I could get it cheaper (and in smaller volume) somewhat closer to source. By God, I'm glad I remembered that.
ReplyDeleteThe big bottle was a gift from my wife. I wouldn't have bought it myself. I did note that the very same bottle in Redmond's costs in and around double what my wife paid for it in Sweeney's offie last year. I'd be disappointed if I paid the current market price.
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across a home brew recipe for the Eggenberg Urbock in Wheeler's Brew Classic European Beers at Home.
ReplyDeleteIt is described '..ripe with fruity aroma with a powerful dash of hop. Rounded balance of grain and hop with a long hoppy finish....light and refreshing despite the impressive strength'
Doesn't sound like the beer we had at all. But then again this comes from the same book that specifies nothing more than either top or bottom fermenting yeast.
There is a recipe for Sneider Weisse (under the heading of esoteric beers..) in which the yeast suggestion is 'top fermenting' and nothing further. Now that's just not going to work, is it.
Wouldn't have thought so, but you might be better off talking to Geoff about it.
ReplyDelete