Samichlaus Classic
(has 25 batches)

0.33 l bottle from 'Bierbörse' (Schwelm), bottled in 2014, best before May 2019, cellared for over three years. This beer has either not been aged for ten months or not been brewed on 6 December as I purchased this one already in August 2014. Clear, dark brownish red with a beige layer. Sweetish-malty, boozy and a bit fruity aroma of molasses, port, raisins, prunes, rhum and some bourbon. Very sweet, malty, slightly fruity taste of molasses, raisins, prunes, port, bourbon and some marzipan, followed by a medium long, moderately bitter, quite warming but only slightly boozy finish. Full body, oily mouthfeel, very soft carbonation. Tastes a lot less boozy than it smells, it's actually very enjoyable. Quite complex, moreish and a bit heavy as well, overall a really nice, slow sipper.

2014 Vintage Bottle at home, bought from Biervana, drank on the brew date, 3 days on, 6th December 17. Pours a copper colour, no head. Aroma is prune, dark fruit, some booze. Taste is prune juice, sweet, bitter caramel, dark fruit, raisins, booze, but drinks below the 14%. Great beer, more of a barley wine than anything else.

Sweetish caramelly sticky beginning. Very deep and intense. Caramel, brown sugar, not too sticky. Nice sweetish but sessionable dark aftertaste with molasses and a moderate bitterness.

Bottle. Nose is caramellized candy, some chocolate, some toffee, toast. palate is very sweet, liccorice, cough syrup. This is like a doppelbock on steroids.

Bottle pour into tulip glass from Manchester Wine and Liquors. Appearance is clear ruby red with fizzy off-white(?) head that lasts about as long as the initial flash when you light a match. Minimal sparkle and no lacing. Aroma is candied sugar, dark fruit and malts trying to conceal astringent alcohol. Taste is very sweet candied sugar and dark fruit over alcohol you can feel as much as taste. Palate is medium bodied with silky texture, flat carbonation and sweet, sugary finish. Warming to the mouth, esophagus, and later stomach with a slight numbing of the lips. Overall, an experience to be sure. Very sweet dessert beer, more like a liqueur, that’s a good sipper.

bottle from secret santa, thanks. pours brown/red with a limited white head. aoma of caramel, dark fruits, christmas herbs, raisins, pretty sweet. Taste is smooth, a huge amount of alcohol, raisin, way too much sugar, way too much alcohol, not that great. however if you like alcoholic christmas sugar bombs you’ll love it... i dont..

Nice clear ruby and violet coloured body with a thinnish, single centimetre tall tan head that fades fast, but leaves the very nice ruby and purple glow as the only thing to look at. Aroma of alcohol, pit fruits, toasted malt, raisins, figs, earth and way more alcohol - pungent. Medium to Full-bodied; Strong rich malt flavours show up first with a big toast flavour, then breaking immediately into a large alcohol bite with medicinal and deep tastes and some pit fruit sweetness that shows raisins, figs and plums, but the syrupy body lends some complexity to a touch of hops as well. Aftertaste shows the alcohol, toast, grain, earth and especially the pit fruits and syrupy sweetness that still comes through after all that alcohol. Overall, a super pungent beer with a lot of depth and complexities and a syrupy finish that shows remarkably well despite the high alcohol content. I sampled this this 33 cL bottle purchased by one of my hockey teammates and sampled on 23-February-2017 (Bottled in 2015)- Thanks Alex!