Spelt Bock (Four Grain)
Indslev Bryggeri

Copenhagen 15/2 2016. 50 cl bottle from Irma, Smedetoften, Kbh. NV. Probably the most boring label I’ve seen this year. Brown and with the silhouette of a swan.

Pours brown (of course) with a yellowish head. A bit bubbly. Settles quickly as a 0,5 cm thick layer of foam covering the surface of the beer. Moderate lacing.

Aroma of malts. Sour grains. Lightly smoked malts, spicy, earthy and bitter. Whiff of alcohol.

Soft carbonation and thick oily palate. Slightly viscous, smooth, gently tingling texture.

Flavor is sourish. Only a light sweetness. Short aftertaste with a medium strong bitterness.

Not a typical wheat beer as they usually make them at Indslev. No lemonade but quite prominent rye flavour. A symphony of malt and grains. You almost feel satiated after drinking this one.

 

 

 

The colour is very dark brown (90 EBC), the liquid is clear. The two finger head is brown and compact. It sinks slowly leaving no lacing.

The smell is very biscuit-y. No wheat sourness. Distinct notes of brown rye bread. Chocolate and some wet cardboard.

The taste is balanced and smooth. Roasted notes; chocolate and dark bread. Some clean bitter notes. Hints of charcoal and burned wood. Medium to full body. The aftertaste got a somewhat chemical bitterness in the background. Some alcohol, dark, almost black bread and rye crisp-bread. The finish is a bit sticky and sweet.

The carbonation is medium strong, the few mid-sized bubbles are sharp. The liquid is a bit thin.

Well, an odd dark take on the wheat beer style. Not very much wheat flavours, not very much bock malt notes.

 

Bottle : Poured a dark brown color beer with a foamy off-white head with OK retention and not much lacing. Aroma of dry cereal notes with some light lingering sweetness and some light dry fruits notes. Taste is a balanced mix between some dry cereal notes with some caramelized malt notes and light lingering sweet notes ta the end. Body is fuller then average with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Interesting though not earth shattering – lacking some esters.

(Notes of 21/08/10) Purchased at the BSF bar, GBBF 2010; coming in a 500ml slim, long-neck brown bottle (unfiltered but pasteurised, I suspect), BB 10/12/2010, served chilled in a 500ml weizen glass. NOTE: the four types of grains used in the brew are barley, wheat, rye and spelt. It's hard to locate the style, though, as the beer has the complexity and rich texture like an ale, but not at all like a German weizen-bock, thus entered here as a weizen-bock pending discerned reviewers' comments/corrections.

A: dark brown colour with caramely hues, slightly translucent, coming with a nice dark-ish beige frothy head with good retention on top of semi-lively carbonation.
S: bready + lightly caramely + aromatically mixed-grainy upfront; a swirl brings out roasted nuts, toasted fruits/plums, chocolate-flavoured toffee and an edge of lightly scented hops. Very well-blended.
T: the foretaste consists of bitter-sweet oily caramely toffee, nutty biscuits, vanilla notes, powdered herbs, and a deeper layer of toasted sour-sweet fruits (jammy stone-fruits & apples)... then a richly nutty flavour of semi-roast malts and undertone of coffee-candy intertwine w/ grassy hops, lending a lingering aroma of toasted grains as of nut-skins/-shells, plus real hop bitterness and a dry-ish feel in the end. Light alc. is felt only mildly after each long sip, without much warming feel.
M&D: this spelt bock is so rich & aromatic in all departments, showing a good, complex backbone of malted grains with hops & fruitiness developing in the middle, resulting in a harmonious balance. Softly-carbonated, soothing yet full-bodied (never going thin, not for one second throughout the drink), this Four Grain Spelt Bock is not like one's typical German bock (lacking the cleaner, "prickling" malty edge) or a weizen-bock (no appearance of exotic-fruit estery edge and strong wheat-ish tastes), and all in all a very delicious product well worth trying in its own right.