guide for English-speakers:
Pronounce it as if it were the English word "ice-bock"
Eisbock is an "ice strong beer," wich sounds both forbidding
and inviting. It has a forbidding ring, because it conjures up images
of frigid temperatures and ice and snow. Yet,
it comes across as inviting, too, because it also conjures up images of
antidote: A warming, nourishing, and comforting brew, one that is rich,
strong, and rewarding. Both aspects of the Eisbock are, of course, true.
Icebocks rank among the world's most potent brews. They are true winter
lagers. They gain their strength from being frozen near the end of their
maturation period. Because water freezes before alcohol, the chilled brew
can be drained off the ice crystals that form in the tank. During this
process, the beer loses about 7 to 10% of its water content. As a result,
the alcohol concentration in the beer increases, usually to about 10%
by volume, about twice as much as the 4.5 to 5.5% of a regular German
lager. As members of the Bockbier family, Eisbocks have all the characteristics
of a typical strong beer, only more so. They are much maltier and smoother
even than the Dopplebocks.
In an Eisbock, you can taste
the alcohol, but as a rounded fiery afterglow, not as a harsh, up-front
assault on the palate. The mystique of the Eisbock is probably uniquely
exemplified by the G'frorns, brewed in the northern Bavarian Kulmbacher
AG, the reputed brewery of origin of the Eisbock style. The alcohol-by-volume
level of this brew reaches approximately 10%. A rich Eisbock is best sipped
like a Sherry, Port, or Madeira; it is never guzzled. Eisbock can be made
as a barley-based lager, like the Reichelbräu G'frorns,
or as a wheat-based ale, called Weizeneisbock.
The Weizeneisbock most readily available in North America is the Schneider
Aventinus Weizeneisbock, whihc is brewed and then frozen to a strength
of 12% alcohol by volume.
First Eisbock Was an Accident
Though some ice beer advertisements insinuate otherwise, the freezing
process for beer was not invented in Canada, but in Germany. It
is not entirely clear, however, where and when the Eisbock originated,
but there is one persistent legend that places the invention into the
Reichelbräu brew yard in the city of Kulmbach, at around 1890. The
legend may not be true, but it sounds plausible. Besides, it is a good
According to that
(tall?) tale, on a wintery day, a brewery lad had been instructed by the
brewmaster to roll the casks of finished Bockbier from the brewery yard
back into the cellar and then close shop. But after a long day of toil
in front of the mash tun the lad was just too tired in the evening to
carry out his master's orders. Instead, he figured that there would be
no harm in leaving them outside until morning.
That night, however,
turned out to be bitter cold, and the beer inside the casks froze solid.
By the time the brew crew returned the following morning, the staves of
the casks had burst open. It appeared to all that the entire lot of wonderful
Bockbier had been ruined. As the brewers inspected the frozen brew more
closely, they discovered that a small pool of murky, brownish liquid had
collected at the very center of each cask.
The brewers were
unaware that alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water, and that
it became concentrated as the beer froze in the casks from the outside
in. As the water froze, the alcohol also transported with it all the essence
of the Bockbier's malty flavor to the center.
The irate brewmaster,
bent on meting out severe punishment, ordered the hapless lad to crack
open the icy casks and drink the awful brownish stuff. The frightened
lad, of course, did as he was told, taking mere tentative sips at first,
but then imbibing with ever increasing gusto. In the center of each cask-size
lump of ice was the most delicious, malty-sweet, and heavy beer imaginable.
Punishment, indeed! The lad was the first human ever to taste...Eisbock;
and being a kind and generous sort, he let the others share in his "punishment."
the Kulmbach brewers made it a practice, during severe cold spells, to
roll out into the open a few casks of Bockbier or Doppelbock, leave them
overnight, and collect the cold nectar in the center, the essence of Bock,
as a heart-warming sipping beer. Thus was born, allegedly, the Eisbock,
a beer style that is still made today according to the principles that
operated on that bitter cold wintry night in Kulmbach. In Kulmbach, the
Reichelbräu eventually became part of the Kulmbacher AG brew conglomerate,
and the original Eisbock is now called G'frorns local vernacular
for "something frozen."