Austria in a Bottle
Oct 29 '04
The Bottom Line With a name like Eggenberg, it has to be good.
To many people, Germany is the land of beer. If that’s the case, then Austria is too. After all, the Austrians are within the Germanic family of peoples, too. And Austrians do love their beer. They consistently rank among the top five consumers of beer per capita in the world. In 2001, for example, the annual per capita amount was 106.9 liters. That put them in fourth place, just behind the Germans (123.1 liters), the Irish (150.8 liters), and the Czechs (158.1 liters), all figures from Modern Brewery Age.
And the Austrians do brew great beer, too, from wheats to pilsners to bocks to eisbocks. Many Americans aren’t as familiar with Austrian beer as they are with German. Still, when it came time for me to pick a beer to represent Austria in my ongoing review series entitled Around the World in 80 Brews, all of them bottled, I was not short on choices. I finally decided on Schloss Eggenberg Urbock 23.
Mostly, this is because this is one of my very favorite Austrian beers. The brewery also produces a very good Dunkel Eisbock, which I enjoy very much. Still, I decided in favor of the 23, a powerful Helles (or pale) bock beer that I think is a classic.
Eggenberg, located in Vorchdorf, has a long tradition of brewing, dating all the way back to 1681. The “Schloss” in the title literally means castle, though the beer is not brewed in one. Besides its regular staple of beers, Eggenberg revived the famous Samichlaus beer a few years back when Hurlimann discontinued it. That alone earns them brownie points amongst beer enthusiasts.
Schloss Eggenberg Urbock 23 pours to a pale golden color with a very light head formation and a very sweet candyish malt nose. The palate is at once rich and warming with a full and luxuriant texture. The palate is syrupy, sticky, and decadently sweet. Notes of candied fruit, a hint of caramel, and cooked corn are all apparent.
In the finish, a grassy hop bitterness emerges, tries to balance the beer, but is quickly subdued by the sweet malt and the warming alcohol in the finish. At 9.6% alcohol by volume, Eggenberg Urbock is almost twice as strong as your average lager. And this is a lager, albeit an exceptional one.
Eggenberg Urbock is truly Austria in a bottle. Not for the timid, this is a potent brew best suited to gentle sipping at room temperature to be best appreciated.
EPINIONS CRITERIA:
Overall Rating: Five Stars
Beer Rating: A must-sensational
Weight: Full Body
Flavor: Sweet
Complexity: Complex
Price: $2.99 per 11.2 ounce bottle
Other beers in this series:
America in a Bottle
Belgium in a Bottle
France in a Bottle
Germany in a Bottle
Holland in a Bottle
Lithuania in a Bottle
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