Leikeim: Steinbier (Germany: Traditional Beer: 5.8% ABV)
Visual: Light hazy toffee to caramel color body. Slightly browned and yellowed inch of head. Quite a bit of small bubbled carbonation to the body.
Nose: Peppery. Wet stones. Burnt wood. Cigarette ash. Dry toffee.
Body: Lightly citrus – lemon sherbet and soft lime. Liquorice. Fudge. Slight steam beer like texture – fluffy feel. Vanilla yogurt.
Finish: Caramel. Light liquorice. Steam beer like air. Cinder toffee. Light ash. Greenery and sage.
Conclusion: This, a steinbier, is not a common one to find, in fact the bottle says “This mystical beer speciality, which may well be unique in the world”, which is probably slight exaggeration, as the closest I have tried is Boscos Flaming Stone beer over in the USA, though since that is most likely inspired by the original Stienbeir style, maybe that does still count. Anyway, that Flaming Stone Beer is my closest point for comparing, so I’m using that as a point of reference when examining this beer.
This has a similar caramel character, but leans a lot less towards the sweet end of the spectrum, with much more savoury contrast. But I am getting ahead of myself again.
Initial impressions were of a lovely toffee coloured beer on the eye, and restrained aroma that hinted a peppery and light ash character. Not smoke beer style, just the slightest touch of singed wood and such.
Then the body surprised me, matching neither the eye nor the nose initially as it opened with a quite sherbety citrus fruit burst that rapidly lessened and allowed the more expected caramel and fudge notes to build up. That initial citrus is a nice set of contrasting notes though even as it lessens.
It is underlined by a slight greenery contrast and what I can best describe as that slightly gassy fluffiness akin to Anchors Steam Beer (A now lost reference of a beer I know). There is light ash, light greenery, lots to keep the caramel to cinder toffee sweetness under control resulting in a very satisfying and distinct beer.
I recommend this, it is something very soothing and enjoyable – some of what I enjoyed in Boscos Flaming Stone beer but with more complexity and nuance. Very nice.
Background: As I covered in the main notes this is a Steinbier, a rare beer style brewed by using a wood fire and heated stones that are dropped directly into the beer in wooden containers. So of course I grabbed a bottle to give a try, it was only while drinking I realised that Boscos Flaming Stone beer was probably inspired by the process for their beer. Anyway, another beer grabbed from Independent Spirit – they have a very nice German beer selection at the moment which I keep dipping into. Decided for a German beer I was going to go with some Rammstein: Mutter for backing music.