Spring Bock (2005-2006)
Amsterdam Brewery

Served in seidel.

LOOK (3.5/5) The look was pretty standard for the style. Thsi one is on the darker side of bock - it poured a deep mahogany with some red highlights when held to the light. Clarity is good. The head is an off-white or light-tan color. A bit small, retention was just okay. A hint of lacing on the fall.

SMELL (3/5) The nose is pretty weak. I do catch some of those melanoidins. This is both too faint and falls pretty short of the complexity you'd expect in a bock. A bit of hop comes through, but a touch too much given the weakness of the malt smell.

TASTE (3/5) Again, not much goes on with the flavor. We get the same melanoidin noted, but again they're faint and not too complex at all. As with the smell, the gentle hops are a bit too much given the malt profile.

FEEL (2.5/5) I found this to be the biggest flaw of this brew. The body is way too light for this style and the carbonation is a bit too much - so this comes off feeling like a mainstream beer. The bitterness lasts a bit too long in the end.

DRINK (2.5/5) All-in-all, this comes off as a mainstream version of a bock - so it ends up tasting like a local dark or brown ale as opposed to a bock.

Sampled very fresh, picked up directly from the brewery. A darker browny colour, pours with little head. Very disapointing nose, with hardly any of the (expected) malty notes present. Taste, sadly, is a similar situation. Some weak malt but hardly enough to develop a respectable flavour. No such of notice of the mentioned chocolat, or nut flavours. Very empty. Mouthfeel is passive, on the softer side. Very little character and not enough flavour to be at all distinguishable or even worthwhile. fair bit of a dispointment.

This one's a puzzel....I like the Mai bock and Xmas bock this brewer makes but this is a bit of a let down...still a fair bock but nit up to Amsterdam's regular craft....something is missing....this is a very one dimensional bock with little nose but a great look to it.

Pours a deep brown-orange with ruby highlights...frothy tan colored cap...reduces too quickly ..laces the glass weakly.

Not much to the nose except some light sweetness.

Starts with a light slightly watery body where roasted/charred grain astringency teams up with the grassy hops for a porter-like "bite" with virtually no sweetness...finishes fast and dry with a little warming and a tinny after taste....seems flat dry and one dimensional.

What is missing in this bock is all the things that make a bock: body, thick chewy malt spine, sweet cocoa/coffee tastes, lagering mellowness and herbal hopping. If I closed my eyes when the bottle was opened I might be led to believe that some one slipped me a Sleeman dry porter...but not a bock.

C'mon guys I know you can do better than this.

Thanks to Northyorksammy for this one that I "lost" in my Beer fridge!

Appearance: Cola-ish dark brown with slight hints of crimson, soapy bubbles with little to no head retention.

Smell: Coffee and caramel, with a leafy, grassy hop smell. There might be some Saaz in there, but something else I couldn't pin down.

Taste: Smooth carbonation, thin dark brown malt middle and a hop finish I felt more on my tongue than on my palate. Not too sweet, quite well attenuated in fact, it didn't taste too boozy either.