The Eisbock

The Beer: Kulmbacher Eisbock
The Brewery: Kulmbacher Brauerei (Schörghuber) of Kulmbach, Germany
The Style: Eisbock

ABV: 9.2%

Brewer's Description: The ice bock, also known as "Bavarian", owes its discovery to a coincidence. According to the chronicles of the Kulmbacher brewery, some time around 1900 an apprentice forgot on a cold winter day to carry two barrels of bock beer into the brewery cellar. The barrels stayed outside, were covered by ice and snow and weren’t discovered until the following spring. The barrels had burst and the apprentice was reprimanded. But the carelessness was a stroke of luck because under the thick ice coat, a bock beer extract remained, strong tasting and high in alcoholic content.
Even if the dark, tasty specialty is not produced in this spectacular way anymore, the chance that gave birth to this beer became a tradition. Today this beer rarity is brewed in a modern brewing and freezing process, but the incomparable taste is still the same and can always be enjoyed in winter months.
Color: Poured into Ayinger Celebrator glass. Dark chocolate brown with some deep red hues when held up to light. Minor suds on the surface, no real head. Label is "lazer" holographic in the same way that a really rad pog "slammer" is.
Aroma: Chocolate cookies, malted milk balls, some alcohol aromas.
Taste/Mouthfeel: Huge, thick sweet maltiness followed by a barrage of bubbles. Some toasted bread, anise, cinnamon, toffee, and brunt caramel round out the heavy body.
Finish: Finish will warm you from the inside-out. Sweet and alcoholic with no real hop bitterness. Some toasted nuts, burnt raisins, and maple syrup in the finish as well.
Notes: (My parents picked this beer up in Florida for me. It is unfortunately not distributed in my current state of Oklahoma) An Eisbock is made by taking a doppelbock and freezing it. The frozen water is then chipped away and the beer is melted once again. In a way this is a crude form of distillation. The beer is further concentrated empowering the sweetness of the malt and raising the alcohol levels. The second strongest beer ever brewed is a Japanese Eisbock.

This beer is a rare treat. Truly a beer for the winter it hides it's strength well until the finish. This is not a bad thing to me, I quite enjoy the warming sensation this beer provides as it glides down my throat.