By now most of you know I am a huge fan of Aecht Schlenkerla, the Bamberg rauchbier brewery. You can find evidence of that here, here, here and here. Well, I am here again to review yet another beer from the famed smoked brewers. You could say this is just the latest in an occasional series on the Schlenk.

As I have said before, I think it is the balanced complexity in their beer that I appreciate most. Most smoked beer are either all about the smoke or only offer a wisp of the earthy, pungent character. Not Aecht Schlenkerla. Their beer always seem to have a rich complexity without losing track of the fact it is supposed to be a beer first and foremost.

The latest acquisition on my part is their Fastenbier, a beer they make once a year for Lent. Lent may be over, but it was still worth giving a try and adding a notch to my rauchbier belt.

It pours medium copper with a thick, dense off-white head forming on top. Not unexpectedly, it offers up a strong woody smoke aroma, accented with some vanilla and touches of dark fruit, all built upon a light toffee malt.

The beer begins with a delicate, soft malt upfront of toffee and light toast. This is quickly supplanted by a rounded smokiness with some sweet beech wood and oak character. The finish is smoky and balanced between soft toffee malt and smoky esters. The linger is a rounded, pleasant and earthy with a woody sharpness of, well, smoke.

Like all Aecht products, it is unbelievably smooth and rounded, dominantly smoky but not out of balance. They leave enough base malt in the beer, however, to counter the smoky edges, which are sharp but not acrid. I continue to be marveled by this brewery and their ability to produce such smoke-forward beer yet keep them totally drinkable.

Expect another Aecht review at some point in the future when I stumble across another of their beer. Maybe I should change the name of this site to onAechtbeer.org?