The other morning my spouse, after hearing the expected clatter, stepped outside to get the mail, which in most houses is ordinarily a mundane task. However, not at my house. This particular morning, there was something special for me in the letter box. Neatly wrapped in brown paper, packed tightly with shredded paper and inside a bubble wrap envelope sat a single, beautiful bottle of beer. Yes, I had just received beer in the mail! It is not the first time I have received such a gift, but I never tire of the thrill. A couple of weeks earlier at a work retreat a colleague from my day job mentioned a B.C. beer of which I had some familiarity, but had never tried. He, graciously, offered to send me one, hence the gift package in my mailbox, for which I ow him a huge thank you for his trouble and expense.

The beer was a bottle of Vancouver Island Brewing’s Hermannator, their effort at an Eisbock. Eisbocks (translated as ice bock) are a rare German beer style. They are brewed as a Dopplebock (the classic version of Dopplebock available in Canada is Ayinger Celebrator – see my review of Celebrator from a couple years ago here), but undergo a fascinating process. The beer is dropped to freezing temperatures, so that the water turns into ice. The liquid portion is then siphoned off, which concentrates both the alcohol and the flavour. It is a challenging beer to make, as the concentration also enhances any flaws or off-flavours in the beer.

There are less than 100 eisbocks in the world, and most are brewed irregularly. Canada has a grand total of 2 – neither available on the prairies…

So receiving one in my mailbox was a wondrous treat. The beer is a deep, mahogany brown with a moderate tan head. Its aroma is sweet and heavy, suggesting both body and alcohol content.

In the flavour, I pick up strong caramel and bready sweetness. This is a rich beer, where hops are silent. The flavour is full and has distinct notes of raisin, toffee, caramel and brown sugar. It has a moderate bready quality to it also. The beer finishes moderately sweet, but not cloying, leaving a clean, pleasant linger. It does not come across as a 9.5% beer.

In a way, I expected more from this beer. It presents itself as a more of a regular dopplebock than an eisbock. Somehow I was hoping for an even more intense drinking experience. This could be, in part, due to the fact that I have mostly only read about eisbocks, given their rarity . I have sampled a homebrew experiment from a friend in the Homebrewers’ Guild, and his version was more intense, so maybe that also gave me false expectations.

I am grateful for the chance to taste such a hard-to-find beer. The hour spent sipping and note-taking was a pleasurable time. If nothing else, Hermannator has increased my motivation to track down other eisbocks in the world to compare.

So if anyone out there feels moved to send me a bottle of eisbock, don’t let me stop you. Nothing beats getting beer delivered to your door!