AVENTINUS WEIZEN EISBOCK

Wow. This is quite likely the worst beer I've tasted since I started "rating" beers - waaaay back in March 2006. I remember reading something about the "Eisbock" style & being somewhat intrigued, and when I saw this on the shelf at my local beer emporium, I took the plunge. Here's what Beer Advocate says an eisbock is:

Eisbocks are created by freezing off a portion of the water, and removing it from the beer. This form of concentration, of sorts, increases the beer's body, flavor, and alcohol content. They can range from near black to as light as tawny red. Hop bitterness and flavor are mostly cast aside with a big alcohol presence replacing it, which can range from sweet to spicy, and fruity to often times fusel. Look for a heavy or almost syrupy body with tons of malty flavor.

I'm not sure whether to blame the Eisbock style or Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn GmbH , the makers of AVENTINUS WEIZEN EISBOCK, for this atrocity, but it really harshed on my mellow. I sniffed it after pouring & it was like inhaling a glass of Drambuie - a huge whiff of alcohol gave me the sense that I'd better hide the matches, because with the slightest spark this motherfucker was going to blow. It tasted accordingly. Big syrupy, malty taste, with alcohol totally dominating and smothering any other flavor. I simply couldn't finish it; it was like eating a fatty meal in Slovenia or Poland or something - I can imagine this served next to a jumbo bowl of Borscht, a gristle-laden chop of some kind and a pile of potatoes. Awful. 2.5/10 - our lowest rating ever!