Style Details

Name
Eis­bock
Cate­go­ry
Strong Euro­pean Beer
BJCP Style Code
9 B
Appearance
Deep cop­per to dark brown in color, often with attrac­ti­ve ruby high­lights. Lage­ring should pro­vi­de good cla­ri­ty. Head reten­ti­on may be mode­ra­te to poor. Off-white to deep ivo­ry colo­red head. Pro­no­un­ced legs are often evident.
Aro­ma
Domi­na­ted by a balan­ce of rich, inten­se malt and a defi­ni­te alco­hol pre­sence. No hop aro­ma. May have signi­fi­cant malt-deri­ved dark fruit esters. Alco­hol aro­mas should not be harsh or solventy.
Fla­vour
Rich, sweet malt balan­ced by a signi­fi­cant alco­hol pre­sence. The malt can have Mail­lard pro­ducts, toasty qua­li­ties, some cara­mel, and occa­sio­nal­ly a slight cho­co­la­te fla­vor. No hop fla­vor. Hop bit­ter­ness just off­sets the malt sweet­ness enough to avo­id a cloy­ing cha­rac­ter. May have signi­fi­cant malt-deri­ved dark fruit esters. The alco­hol should be smooth, not harsh or hot, and should help the hop bit­ter­ness balan­ce the strong malt pre­sence. The finish should be of malt and alco­hol, and can have a cer­tain dry­ness from the alco­hol. It should not by sti­cky, syru­py or cloy­in­gly sweet. Clean lager character.
Mouth­feel
Full to very full-bodi­ed. Low car­bo­na­ti­on. Signi­fi­cant alco­hol warmth wit­hout sharp hot­ness. Very smooth wit­hout harsh edges from alco­hol, bit­ter­ness, fusels, or other con­cen­tra­ted flavors.
Over­all Impression
A strong, full-bodi­ed, rich, and mal­ty dark Ger­man lager often with a vis­cous qua­li­ty and strong fla­vors. Even though fla­vors are con­cen­tra­ted, the alco­hol should be smooth and warm­ing, not burning. 
Typi­cal Ingredients
Same as dop­pel­bock. Com­mer­cial eis­bocks are gene­ral­ly con­cen­tra­ted any­whe­re from 7% to 33% (by volume).
Histo­ry
A tra­di­tio­nal Kulm­bach spe­cial­ty bre­wed by free­zing a dop­pel­bock and remo­ving the ice to con­cen­tra­te the fla­vor and alco­hol con­tent (as well as any defects).
Comm­ents
Exten­ded lage­ring is often nee­ded post-free­zing to smooth the alco­hol and enhan­ce the malt and alco­hol balan­ce. Pro­no­un­ced “ICE-bock.”
Com­mer­cial Examples
Kulm­ba­cher Eisbock
Ori­gi­nal Gravity
1.078 - 1.120 SG
Final Gra­vi­ty
1.020 - 1.035 SG
Color
18 - 30 SRM
Alco­hol
9.0 - 14.0 %vol
Bit­ter­ness
25 - 35 IBU