Brick Anniversary Bock
Waterloo Brewing

 

1993 bottle shared courtesy of MDS, thanks for being so generous Mike! Deep dark chestnut pour unleashes a nice size mocha froth and puts lots of sediment in my glass. The nose is of huge caramel malts with plenty of black cherries, wood smoke, nuts, sherry and a blast of leather. Quite big and assertive. The flavour profile is a bit weaker than the nose would have led me to believe. It is quite malty sweet with hints of sherry and dark fruit. After that, there is a roasted nuttiness followed by a sharp metallic twang lending itself to the finish. Bitterness lingers, and the finish is a touch watery. All in all I am impressed. This beer has held up very well over 15 years. I've been wanting to try this for years, so thanks Mike for giving me the opportunity to do so, I appreciate it.

Bottle was a gift from a friend who dropped it off when I was out...sort of a late absentee Christmas gift, I guess. Nice. Wonder what year it is? Label says 5.8%...does that provide a hint?

Poured into a glass that's sort of a cross between a flute and a tulip. A narrow tulip? Chunky flute? Whatever...closest thing I have to a flute anyway.

Had to pour firm to get a head on this, but it's there. Dissipated quickly and left no lacing to speak of. Had to hold it up to the light to see the colour well, but it's quite nice. Dark reddish brown. Warm and friendly. Looks pretty good.

Smells pretty good, too, though not as good as it looks. Deep caramelly raisiny pruney roasty mostly.

And yup...those smells come from somewhere. It tastes that way, too. Malty, not too sweet, and then all those pruney flavours and then just a touch of bitter. Pretty good. Not stupendous, but pretty good. I like it.

The mouthfeel is nice...full, and it's got much better legs than 5.8% would indicate. There's still some carbonation in it, which cuts the thickness and balances it well.

All in all, a good beer. I like it. I probably won't go out of my way to find it again, but it's worth the experience. I'll have to be sure to thank my buddy for dropping it by.

A revival of ratings, thanks to Pootz opening up his cellar on this. He has given me the 2001 edition. I found this to be in good shape overcoming it not being intended for so long. While the carbonation has gone out to a significant extent, the beverage was still tasty and interesting with a dark brown colour sans the head, and a malty treat to smell sans much yeast. It was not to sweet, and yes there was a pungency and mid-sip spiciness, bittersweet chocolate, mollasses in finish.

2000 edition sampled 2007

Poured a dark chestnut color in the glass..light needed to see through..has ruby highlights. Thick sticky 3 finger mocha colored cap that lasts relatively well then settled to a rich surface foam that imprints lace on the glass as you drink.

Aroma: a tad 2 dimensional but still wonderfully pungent...figs and chocolate in spades with a light whisp of wet hay.

Medium bodied, silken mouth feel and pungent dried fruit toasty-nutty character.

Starts wuth a nice bite into Christmas cake then the dried fruit (figs/dates) and cocoa tones dominate without cloying...mid palate the hops show to create an interesting mix of medicinal/herbal bittering offset to the toasty-nutty malts with dried fruit (figs) from yeast esters plus the coca tones from black patent malts....complex blend of mellow flavors but not overly complicated ( which is a plus for drinkability in a dark bock)...mellow, slow finish runs like bittersweet chocolate on raisin toast with a light herbal-woody bittering just at the end that tails off into the after taste.

WOW!
Age improved?
dunno... but not oxidized and certainly a drinkable sturdy bock of old world dimension and taste.

We have got to beg this brewer to make this beer again...probably the best dunkler bock I have tasted in Canada if not the US as well...Shiner' bock has niothing on this...neither do Stoudt's or Calument...this is very close to Weltenburger bock...but better IMHO.

The 2003 Edition. Appearance was a little disappointing. Looked more like cola than it did beer. Black, with a little carbonation. Very little head that disipated to nothing. That's when it started to look like cola. No lacing whatsoever. Smells pretty decent. Sweet malts, chocolate, cherries and some hops. Tastes the same as well. Sweet malt and chocolate dominate, with a bittery hop background and cherry sweetness twingling throughout. Aftertaste is a little dry and earthy. Pretty drinkable, and gets better as it warms.

Cola coloured with a short head that immediately settles to a ring and gives up just a bit of spotty lace.

Sweet roasted malt aroma, sharp note of alcohol, some butteriness. Bittingly dry and bitter to taste. Stong roast coffee notes. Dry bitter finish with notes of alcohol.

A little too sharp across the board for me, but I suspect it would go good with a burger.

Dark brown pour with a medium tan head. The nose malty sweet with some roasted notes. The palate is on the sweeter side with hints of roasted malt and black licorice. A relatively light mouthfeel but the 7% alcohol & good maltiness give it some backbone. A smooth finish with nutty undertones.

2002. The recipe does change slightly from year to year. (apparently '95 was stellar).

Solid dark brown, near black. Let's call it figured walnut, like what I'll have on an electric guitar someday. Head is there, about 1 centimetre thick, fades and leaves. Little lacing.

Tastes great. I get predominantly coffee-ish flavours. Good bitter finish. Some vinous qualities. A constant overall good taste. Leans towards the doppelbock end of things.

Smooth on the mouth. Nice fairly soft carbonation. Wonderful to drink, I like this. This is a bock without any rough edges to wear off, but I'll put some away anyhow.