[1] Aecht Schlenkerla is recognized for making traditional Rauchbier (smoked beer) including urbock, märzen, weizen, oak doppelbock, lentbeer (Fastenbier), a Helles Marzen blend (Krausen), Helles (filtered and unfiltered) and Hansla (low alcohol).

[3] The brewery has been in operation since 1405, when it was a pub known as Zum Blauen Löwen ("At the Blue Lion").

Only a small number of Bamberg breweries continued the use of traditional fire kiln malt drying, preserving the style.

Schlenkern is a German verb meaning to swing or to dangle (literally "to slink").

The name reportedly comes from a brewer with a hobbling gait whose image can be seen on the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier bottle.