Leikeim Steinbier

Review Date 1/8/2026 By John Staradumsky

  Style: Steinbier   Brewery: Leikeim   Country: Germany   State: N/A   $ Per OZ: $.41   ABV: 5.8%

Well, here’s a style of beer you don’t see every day: Steinbier. The specific example of said style that I am drinking today is Leikeim Steinbier, from Brauhaus Leikeim of Altenkunstadt, Germany, in northern Bavaria. There is a reason that the style is rare: it isn’t easy to make. Steinbier, or stone beer, is rare even in Germany where it originated. It involves heating rocks in a fire and adding them to the brew kettle to bring the wort over the boiling point. As you do this, sugars from the wort caramelize onto the hot rocks, imparting rich malt flavors, and the rocks also add smoky notes to the beer.

After the boil, the rocks are removed and later added to the fermenters and lagering tanks. Yeast feats on the sugars adding even more complex flavor. As I said, not an easy style to make. I first learned of the style in Michael Jackson’s episode of his Beer Hunter series, The Fifth Element, where you can see the classic example, Rauchenfels Steinbier, made. That drove me to seek that beer out, and I drank it frequently in the 90s. I have come across few other examples, especially from domestic breweries. Bosco’s Flaming Stone Beer does stand out as a notable example.

Leikeim says of their Steinbier:

Ein echter Brauschatz geschaffen aus Feuer und Stein.

Bernsteinfarben, karamellig und malzaromatisch.
Geschaffen durch Feuer und Stein – nach einem der ältesten Brauverfahren der Welt gebraut. Malzzucker karamellisiert an glühenden Steinen und verleiht so dem Bier seinen süffigen Charakter. Bernsteinfarben, naturtrüb mit Karamellnoten im Antrunk und zartbitter im Finale.
So einzigartig schmeckt daheim.

Which means if you don’t speak German:

A true brewing treasure created from fire and stone.

Amber-colored, caramel, and malty aromatic. Created through fire and stone – brewed according to one of the oldest brewing methods in the world. Malt sugar caramelizes on glowing stones, giving the beer its smooth character. Amber-colored, naturally cloudy with caramel notes at first taste and delicately bitter in the finish.

This is how unique it tastes at home.

Leikeim Steinbier has an alcohol content of 5.8% by volume and I paid $6.99 for my half liter bottle from Half Time. It has no freshness dating.

Leikeim Steinbier pours to a cloudy russet amber color with a thick rocky head and a nose of bready malt hinting at caramel. Taking a sip, the beer is medium in body and pops immediately with caramel and toasted bread with the crusts on. It is very malty, with some toffee and treacle and a touch of brown sugar from the sugars caramelizing on the hot rocks.  I don’t really get any smoke (the style should have a touch, at least Rauchenfels always did). It does finish with a zesty hop bitterness, and I do like that.

I did enjoy Leikeim Steinbier, but I wanted more malty complexity from the steinbier brewing process, and a bit of smoke as noted would be nice too. I would drink it again all the same.