Crazy Eyes: Darcy Tucker Winter Bock
Lake of Bays Brewing Company

A decent Ontario bock, but 750 mL is more than I needed in a single sitting...
Pours an oily near-black with auburn highlights. Roasty and sweet flavours are prominent, but meld well with some subtle spice tones. Those yeast-based spices are more prevalent in the aroma.

For the most authentic experience, you're supposed to overpay for this beer, drink half, pour the rest down the drain, and then keep paying for it for another five years.

(Now that we have that hockey joke out of the way . . .)

Black in colour with decent head and some foam on the glass. Head retention is average. Smell is bready, caramel, smoky, molasses, coffee, brown sugar, vanilla. All fairly mild. Taste is coffee, dark bread, bitter chocolate, caramel, molasses, vanilla. Dry mouthfeel, medium carbonation, good body. Pretty drinkable despite a certain degree of "intensity" about it. Not spectacular, but interesting enough to have been worth trying.

 

750 mL bottle picked up at the LCBO; bottled on Nov 26 2014. This one has been sitting in the cooler at my local shop for a few months now, and despite being a pseudo-Leafs fan (I've pretty much stopped following them since Rogers/Bell took over, but I was much more enthusiastic in the 'Tucker' era), I've passed on this bottle many times. Now that winter is over, I was feeling in the mood for something bock-y, and this big bottle fit the bill. Served slightly chilled.

Pours a dark cherry-cola colour - deep brown, with reddish highlights. It's capped off with one finger of creamy, light beige-coloured head, which seeps away rapidly over the next minute or two, leaving behind a thin collar and a modest amount of lace. The aroma is dominated by notes from a dark, somewhat roasty malt profile - coffee, biscuits, molasses and brown sugar are all detectable, with touches of dark chocolate, dates and plums. Enticing.

This is a pretty tasty example of a strong bock, leaning toward the saccharine side. Bready malts, molasses and caramelized sugar sweetness are quite prominent, with additional notes of cocoa, plum and mocha. Perhaps a few slight hints of date fruit, raisins and vanilla, with suggestions of smoke dispersed amidst some leafy, lightly spicy hop bitterness. Relatively sweet aftertaste, with a mildly noticeable booziness. Medium-bodied, with prickly carbonation levels that are a bit on the low side - appropriately resulting in a smooth, satisfying mouthfeel.

Final Grade: 3.86, a B+. 'Crazy Eyes' proves that Lake of Bays is definitely getting a lot better at lager-brewing. Bocks have never been my favourite style, and this one is still a touch too boozy-sweet for me (which happens to be my main reason for not really liking this style, generally speaking). But that's just a personal gripe - this is a pretty well-made bock, just not one that is particularly tailored to my preferences. But seriously, describing any of the post-1967 Leafs' play-off runs as successful is laughable. And screw you, Kerry Fraser.

 

 

 

Nice dark pour with foamy head. Easy to drink not boozy. A bit of spice. Nice.

750ml bottle - finally, one of these NHL Alumni brews wherein the featured player is one of my hockey-watching generation. I do have to laugh at the mention of Toronto's 'successful' playoff runs of the late 90s and early 2000s. And I too wore number 16 when I played rep hockey, and used to have a signature very much like M. Tucker's, apparently - as a teenager.

This beer pours a clear, very dark red-brick amber hue, with two skinned fingers of weakly foamy and mostly cream-puffy head, which leaves a bit of coral reef profile lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.

It smells of bready, crackery semi-sweet caramel malt, a muddled bruised drupe and citrus rind fruitiness, hints of wispy smoke, cold mocha, and leafy, weedy, and somewhat perfumed hops. The taste is more fairly sweet grainy caramel malt, biscuity toffee, bittersweet chocolate, understated toasty day-old coffee, dark orchard fruit - cherry, plum, and raisin - a hint of earthy yeast, and grassy, leafy, and floral hops. The 16 proof (hah - I get it - maybe) booze is but a knee-wobbler that you just haven't yet encountered.

The carbonation is mostly underwhelming in its soft and kid gloves frothiness, the body a steady medium-heavy weight for the style, and generally smooth, no hop or alcohol ester willing to muster the courage to interfere as such here. It finishes well off-dry, the crackery caramel still the order of the day, while the hops go off and play in their corner, and the booze keeps a respectful and mandated distance.

A pretty well rendered dark bock, if that is what 'winter bock' is supposed to mean. Anyways, decently balanced among the slightly smoked malty sweetness, thankless hops, and simmering alcohol measure. A fitting tribute to the Maple Laffs resident meathead, with occasional Johnny on the spot tendencies, from a decade or more ago, now, sheeeeesh.

 

750ml bottle poured into a room room temperature pint glass-snifter hybrid thingy

A- Super dark brown almost black, one finger of light brown head which dissipated right away

S- coffee, vanilla, chocolate

T- huge malty taste, followed by coffee and raisins, finishes with smoke

M- Low carbonation, a little sickly sweet in the beginning, finished with a warm alcohol feel

O- The very sweet malty taste put me off a bit an the beginning of each sip and then I was soothed each time with it's great smokey finish.

 

 

750 ml bottle served fairly cold into a pint glass. Purchased from LCBO for $11.95 CDN. I believe this is the 5th in the NHL alumni series, 4th I've tasted (missing the Stitches: Gerry Cheevers Oktoberfest).

Appearance - Very dark mahogany brown near black. 2 fingers of tan head are poured with modest retention. Dark and hazy with a number of fine swaths of lacing left behind.

Smell - Coffee, chocolate ad cocoa with a dry earthiness lingering behind.

Taste - Roasty coffee and chocolate flavors up front, followed by sweet caramel and a trace of sweet cherries and plums. A nice tasty bock. Alcohol is very well hidden and kind of a Christmas baking theme throughout too. A bit smoky with charcoal on the conclusion.

Mouthfeel - Smooth, lightly carbonated with a very dry finish. Peculiar yet good feel for a bock. Dry smokiness wraps everything up with a bow.

Overall - Very tasty and well crafted seasonal bock. Alcohol is imperceptible and a beer that I felt was greater than the sum of its parts. Even given the steep price tag I would certainly consider picking this up again, and my favorite of the NHL alumni series by Lake of Bays.