Lost Face
Varietal Beer Company

for some reason the bar i was at drinking this had it listed at just 3.8% abv, i knew that had to be an error unless there was some other edition of this made with its second runnings or something, but that doesnt seem likely. deep brick red to mahogany color on it with a little haze and a pillowy khaki head all sudsy and with great retention, certainly looks the part of a classic bock. it smells that way too, tons of kilned and caramelized grain, bready and a bit german but not overly european to me, sweet but not diabetic, with notes of dates and palm sugar, as well as some lager yeast coming through, somewhat understated as these go, a hint of umami too. the flavor is actually more nutty than sweet, hazelnut, minerals, some german lager yeast all bready and hearty with these grains, toffee and raisin as it warms, but i hardly let it, it drinks lighter than it looks and light for the style, almost had me fooled at the wrongly listed abv, smooth in body, no real linger, modestly hopped but nicely balanced for being as grain forward as it is, and overall a solid take on the style, these guys do everything pretty well, huge style diversity here!