Helles Bock
Bohemian Brewery

another sort of marginal beer from these guys, i was a little less impressed this most recent trip to utah with their beers than i had been in the past, this is a fine bock but unremarkable compared to their best offerings, well lagered but somewhat bland really, not as much from the malt here as i had hoped for, and even on the paler side of the style this felt a bit weak to me. pretty clear pour with racing bubbles and a short white head, about honey colored and appropriate for the style, still light in body. the aroma on this is a bit sweet with a baked warmth about it and still an appreciable old world lager yeast element, to me its a little one dimensional even though thats two dimensions, and the sweetness is limiting even though its not enormous, some neat mineral character to it, simple beer really. the flavor follows, modest sweetness much of the way, an almost granola note, sort of a proofing dough type rawness to the ferment, a little dusty too giving it some german authenticity, but its just a bit plain, perhaps even a little tired, not quite oxidized but almost overly mellow. good carbonation though keeps it moving, and i think this does some things pretty well, nice mash and technique, nice grain build, but the attention to detail seems less impressive than i am used to in their other beers. good not great, and easy food beer in a variety of contexts.

Nice malty aroma, and the taste is balanced a little bit to the malty side, but not sweet malty.