EKU 28

I remember trying this beer back when I was in my early twenties, and telling everyone it tasted like "beer syrup." It’s a Doppelbock style beer from Kulmbacher Brauerei AG in Kulmbach, Germany, highly rated and somewhat hard to find. Binny’s in Glen Ellyn Illinois has it, along with a zillion other “hard to find” beers. The place truly is beer heaven. I saw the EKU 28 on the shelf and decided to see how it stacks up against my memory.

Popping it open, I give it that obligatory first sniff. It smells yeasty and sweet, so much so the scent overpowers just about everything else but the faint undertone of malt.

I raise it up to my lips, tip it back. Tastes just how I remember it. Beer syrup. On the initial sip all you really notice is how heavy and thick it seems, and the taste is a neutral grain alcohol flavor that sinks smoothly under a wave of citrus maltiness. That gives way to a mild bitterness that has a woody quality to it, reminding me just a bit of bourbon.

Actually that’s a good way to describe it. If you ever have a dark beer with a bourbon chaser, that aftertaste is quite a bit like EKU 28. The chaser is included.

Indeed. This brew is 11% alcohol by volume, and it hits you quickly. You don’t want to drink too many of these in a row, unless you like waking up naked in the meridian of a major freeway, or hanging from a tree by a bondage outfit you have no recollection of buying.

I have no choice but to proclaim EKU 28 as a groovy brew, but I don’t really feel it rates as a holy beer contender. It’s good and it’s fun but it doesn’t cause angels to sing.