Day Six: Samichlaus Bier from Brewery Castle Eggenberg

Samichlaus (Santa Claus) Bier was revived a few years back when Austria's Brewery Castle Eggenberg retained the rights from Hurlimann Brewery in Switzerland, the original producer, to begin rebrewing this Christmas classic. Samichlaus is brewed once a year on December 6th, the feast of St. Nicholas, and then aged for over 10 months before it's bottled and sold. It is a doppelbock beer and at one time, considered the "World's Strongest Lager" at 14% abv.

That being the case, this is an ideal beer to age and see what happens over time. The sample I have was from a 2001 bottling from a 4 pack I purchased 3 years ago. It's a clear dark amber in color with a light tan head after a semi-hard pour. With the alcohol content so high, it's typically hard to get a head on a beer like this. The aroma consisted of spices, malt, raisins, caramel and alcohol. Taste is strong and reminded me a lot of a brandy or sherry. Flavors meld into that of malt, raisin, smokey oak and alcohol. Mouthfeel is rich and coats the tongue. Alcohol warms the back of the throat and stomach as it goes down. This is most definitely a sipping beer. Downgraded the drinkability a little because it would be overkill to drink more than one of these in an evening. Samichlaus is a rare treat and should be enjoyed as such.