Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6

500mL bottle, pours a clear golden with a small white head. Nose has an old furniture-like character to the malt, with pleasant metallic notes, and crisp bready malt. Flavour is much the same, with old bready malt, a biting crispness, and gentle bitterness on the finish. Nicely constructed; something different for Schlenkerla.

Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Beautiful copper with a tall white head. The aroma doesn’t show much smoke but it’s much more apparent in the flavor. But, it’s not a smoke powerhouse, just a nice light smoke profile. After that, there is grain, some earthy hops and slight caramel. Medium to full bodied. Finish has a light smoke note and spicy hops. I’m not a big smoked beer fan, but the smoked malt is expertly balanced and not overwhelming. A lovely beer.

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 7

Bottle at home. Beautiful little keller with underlying smoky notes both in aroma and taste. It’s apparent right away at the first smell/sip but it remains in the background throughout, supporting the malt character. Lovely.

#historical

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle from Beerdome. Nice smoked aroma, malt, smoked ham, ash, some caramel. Moderate sweet and bitter. Medium body. Great as always from Heller-Bräu.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle 0,5 ltr: Clear amber coloured brew with an slightly sweet bitter taste with hints of caramel, smoked ham, some smoked trout and well balanced smoked malts.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle from the brewpub. Hazy amber, stable, foamy, off-white head. Aroma of red apple, plum, biscuit, toast, peanut, smoked wood, BBQ herbs, caramel. Taste has sweet red apple & plum in a peanutty, bready, slightly caramelly malt body with subtle herbal, toasty and smoky edges. Grassy & herbal hops in the finish, lingering spices, apple, gently smoked wood. Medium body, oily texture, average carbonation. Thoroughly enjoyable as some kind of Schlenkerla 'spin-off'.

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Undefined German Lager by the unsurpassed Heller Trum brewery in Bamberg, one of the world's great heritage brewing cities, oddly not integrated in their justly famous Aecht Schlenkerla brand - because apparently this beer is one of those rare historical recreations, based on a recipe retrieved from Bamberg's oldest known brewery (Michaelsberg, in existence from 1122 till 1969), which in the 19th century got tied to Heller Trum, hence the connection. Thanks to tderoeck for sharing this oddity! Egg-white, membrane-lacing, frothy and fluffy, thick head on a clear amberish pure orange-blonde robe. Aroma of smoked wood (Rauchmalz) but much more subtly so than in the Aecht Schlenkerla range, croissants, white pepper, light toast, cured meat, roasted peanuts, paprika powder, black tea, dry tree leaves somewhere. Clean malt-fruity onset (even a touch apple peel-like) with medium carb, smooth bready core with underlying minerality, bread crust- and cracker-like with a growing smoky Rauchmalz edge (smoked bacon) but again remaining milder and softer than in an actual Bamberg Rauchbier; floral, bit leafy, lingering hop bitterness in the finish - the hops here had to shine because they come from the 'Hopfengarten Bamberg' which reintroduced hop growing to the city - but remaining well in touch with the toasty, gently smoked maltiness that makes up this beer's backbone. I doubt if the actual historical recipe this brew was based upon was a clean and quite hoppy amber lager like this one and clearly the brewery is unable to brew anything without that pungent smokiness hanging around at least somewhere, but these reservations do not make it any less tasty: this is an utterly solid Bamberg offering in all respects, indeed distinct from Aecht Schlenkerla, but at the same time closely tied to it as well. Hard to judge without those Rauchbier variants in mind, but I love those too and this one was just as tasty.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

2/XI/24 - 50cl bottle from Schlenkerla taproom (Bamberg), shared @ home, BB: XII/2024, L2P (2024-1168)

Clear orange beer, big creamy yellowish beige head, stable, adhesive, leaving some patches of lacing. MF: ok carbon, medium body, creamy texture. Taste: nice, sweet caramel malts, a bit sugary, some ripe banana, gentle bitterness, a bit smoky, very nice. Aftertaste: more malty, grains, caramel, very nice, more smoky, a little bitter, dry, herbal touch, nice one!