Sparbock
Jackie O's Brewpub

taken from notes
on tap

Pours a murky brown color with a small creamy off-white head that reduces to a ring around the glass. Smells of caramel, toffee & earthy honey. Tastes of sweet brown bread with notes of caramel, toffee with an earthy and herbal finish. Medium body and carbonation, creamy finish. Lower abv makes this very drinkable, yet still full flavored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Ohio Brew week beer brought in a growler by Justin to our small tasting.

A: Pours a nice brownish, almost red color. Lots of light let in around the edges. This is on the darker end of the bock spectrum. Fairly flat at this point.

S: Lots of toasted bread, akin to other bocks. Lesser notes of some hazelnut, caramel, and some light woodiness.

T: Lots of malt here, biscuits, toast, some sweetness from this big malt bill. I'm getting caramel, vanilla, and some more of that maybe hazelnut flavor. Very acceptable flavors since this isn't my style of choice. No real hop bitterness, just good ol' lightly-sweet maltiness.

M: Has a medium body but carbonation is way down. It is a very easy drinking beer.

O: As far as bocks go this might be my top choice. I haven't had them all and what I have had, I didn't enjoy. There is no skunky grassiness like the lighter ones and it isn't a big dark sugar bomb like the dopples. This just fits nicely in the middle providing some really good drinkability. More carbonation would have been happily welcomed.

Growler brought up by my brother who went down for some Ohio Brew Week action. I'm super jelly I couldn't go, so I sip at this glass vicariously. I'm not sure if this is a bock or what, but I don't know if Brad has ever brewed a lager at Jackie O's. So I'll review under the assumption that this is some sort of a hybrid that defies classification.

Poured into a New Belgium globe.

Appearance
A nice, frothy, tan head rises with ease and leaves some good, broken lace. The beer is a deep, woody red.

Aroma
Meh, the aroma just isn't pulling me in. It does smell a lot like what most bock malt bills smell like; plenty of caramel malt with prevailing notes of a heavy, toasted breadiness. This one has notes of vanilla that weave in and out of a raisin fruitiness. Going off of the first line of Thorpe's review, I'm guessing that this is due to the use of oak chips.

Taste
While the aroma is a little lackluster, and nearly bland, the flavor is huge, strong and impressive. This beer is very sweet as Brad flexes his malty muscles yet again. Extreme levels of caramel and toffee meld with equally magnanimous volumes of vanilla and raisin; all the while that toasty dark bread crust weathers the storm, remaining the last flavor left on the palate. This flavor is quite intense, but there is little in the way of balancing bitterness.

Mouthfeel
Carbonation is low, but I don't think I've ever once complained about a Jackie O's beer being too prickly. The low carbonation suits this beer well. It has a chewy body that's right about in the lower side of full. Despite the sweetness this beer finishes dry.

Overall
This is a pretty good one. Its all malt sweetness though, and as a result this beer is a bit tough to finish. It weighs heavily on the stomach. I can enjoy this though.

"Malty strong ale aged on oak chips."

Pours a moderate reddish-brown color with a good tan head and a slight amount of lacing on the way down. The nose brings forward some subtle oak character and sweet malted plus some mild fruits. Caramel and bread there as well. The taste is quite bready with some caramel sweetness and a nice touch of oak in the background. Good full body with a bit of oak tannin that helps round out the brew. Nice and drinkable. Love how there are so many new offerings each time I stop by.