Bock to the Future
Denizens Brewing Riverdale Park Production House & Taproom

I had to add this to the Beeradvocate database. Funny--a search for "Bock to the Future" yields nearly a dozen other beers that all went for the same incredibly tired pun, all of which were retired.

I can't blame Denizens for this, obviously, but god damn I am tired of completely empty 80's-90's nostalgia. I get it, the world sucks and it's terrifying. But can we at least develop a new set of cultural referents to try and adequately describe our collective terror?

Anyhow, according to a fawning profile in some DC weekly, this here beer is based on an 80-year-old recipe. And, like most attempts by contemporary craft brewers to ape long-dead styles, this one seems like the brewer missed the plot. Which isn't to say it's bad. Just a tad off, like when Sam Adams tries to make a contemporary IPA.

The pour is quite dark for the style, but still sparkly and filtered.

The aroma is firm: chocolatey, nutty, and lightly ashen. Well balanced. Pleasant.

But the flavor, sadly, does not fully gel. Charred barley dominates the front end, which leads to an ashen bitterness throughout that kind of clashes with the bready and nutty bock nodes of the middle and finish. The back end is far too sweet, with nodes of walnuts and burnt cinnamon toast. It's just off. Not awful. But off.