Online Tasting: Bocks (April 23-25, 2021)

Finished replacing my fireplace doors and I'm back with a braunschweiger sandwich and Ettaler Curator.
Looks brown until you hold it up to the light and see that it is really a deep amber/ruby. The aroma is mild caramel and toffee. The flavor builds on that with dark caramel, toffee, raisins, dates, and hearty brown breads. There's a solid earthy/floral hop presence that keeps the sweetness in check and prevents any syrupy stickiness. A very food friendly doppelbock.

 

Before getting to your text, I was quite surprised to see your choice since I assumed you were still in Germany. Are you in the US now?

 

Thanks to @TongoRad for hosting quite the bock extravaganza!

I've got an old friend I discovered years ago in college (1995 I think ):

Best by 11/21 printed on back label.

At one time I would've pit Salvator against every other beer on the planet for my favorite. It was so full of sweet bready malt flavors, almost caramel but with a hint of something darker. It reminded me very much of the English pale ales I discovered in the mid-1990s but with possibly an even sweeter punch from the malt.

Alas, Salvator reigns no more.

This bottle is the last of a 6-pack I bought for our Salvator + Lagavulin beer and whisky pairing earlier this month, and the lot has been disappointing. Almost all of the sweet malt flavors I remember are gone, replaced with an overly earthy/charred dirt flavor that isn't very tasty. I don't get dark dried fruits, caramel or even a generic bread-malt presence. It reminds me of the overly charred-malt Americanized Oktoberfests that taste more like copper pennies than tasty malt bombs.

Still, it's been fun attempting to reconnect with an old friend. My palate has changed immensely over the years, plus I've recently become a full-time whisk[e]y drinker, so I'm more used to the real malt bombs and the overload of yummy sugar you find in single malts compared to beers.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer ... I'll be fine nursing this Salvator home, perhaps pouring something on the side to help the process.

And thanks to all the BAs who brought their bocks to the party! This thread is full of some amazing work!

Cheers!

 

Turning to the import side of the bock equation on Day 3. And doubling down no less with Hofbrau maibock. This has become a must have for me every Spring the last few years (with only a 2020 COVID-related hiatus ). Don’t think I can add anything unique to the laudatory appraisals already heaped upon this beauty, so I won’t try. I’ll just say Prost...x2!

 

When I finish my last bock later this evening, I will have had 9 different bocks for this tasting.

That will add up to 14.9 "standard" drinks.

Yeah, I tracked that; even the number of standard drinks each day - high was Saturday @7.01. Sometimes, the way I collect and track data reminds me of this guy:

 

@JayWhitson sent me an awesome box (bocks?) last week that included this gem.

I did not go out and buy any bocks but since this was around I chose to partake in the weekend’s thread.
Pours a muted brown but when held to light, amber tones make their way through. Sold fingers worth of right tan head and decent amount of lace rings on the glass.
Aromas of roasted and toasted malts, caramel cookies, bread. Really killer nose.
Taste follows the nose. Caramel, fig, breakfast raisin bread, just a bit of smoke.
Starts out sweet but finishes dry and clean. Easy drinking with no heat or booze.
Delicious and a well done example of an American doppelbock.
I’ll add the beer into the database but I’d put this in the 4.25 area if I’m going with Untappd rules.

 

Yeah, maybe 4 years now? Been bugging him to fix his profile but I gave up.

 

One last bock to offer before my (sadly) very exhaustible supply has run out:

Hertl Oma’s Betthupferl Bock
Pours a basic amber, slightly orange, with very nice head. Flavor is like a strong Export. There is a little bit of caramel maltiness to this, but not much, really. It mainly has a very strong biscuit and bready note. Bit of a honey-floral note here as well, almost like a muted Belgian Tripel. Mouthfeel is fairly basic, not really thick, but also not thin. There is a slight bitterness on the aftertaste, but it works to balance more than anything. I can see how some would quite like this; it does strike me as well-made beer. But it isn’t really my cup of tea. The flavor tastes kind of like you mixed a half-and-half of pils and doppelbock, and I’d very much prefer to take the pils out of that equation.

On a side note, the name of the beer is rather humorous. “Oma” is German for “Grandmother”, and “Betthupferl” refers to the sort of drink that you would have before going to bed (like a warm glass of milk, etc…), so basically this sort of strong beer was what Grandma would drink to fall asleep.

It has been fun everyone! Enjoy the last night of the tasting!

 

Yep. I'm not sure what my profile says, I'm pretty slow to update these things. I was in Germany from 2010 - 2014 and have been back in the US since then. Troegenator would fit in perfectly in Germany, which is about the highest compliment I can give an American version of a German style. Not my favorite, but certainly good and readily available.

But for the record if @b9d9 or @JHDStein or @Snowcrash000 or any of my Germany BA friends ever want to try the best Maibock ever they should make their way to Klosterbrau in Bamberg during Maibock season.

 

I'm sorry, I originally overlooked the Bamberg part of that sentence and actually thought you were recommending the Klosterhof in HD for a second. I checked to see if they had a doppelbock for the Online Tasting, but luckily they did not.

 

I nearly said "not to be confused with Klosterhof"... I think we all know better.

Also, Faust did a killer Wild Turkey Barrel Aged Eisbock that is definitely to be shared with friends and not downed by one's self. Just FYI for my German BA friends.

 

Winding down with my next to last bock; Salvator.
A dark honey color and a small, quickly dissolving light tan head. Flavors of dark caramel, brown sugar, raisins, dates, hearty breads, flowers and a touch of honey with some spicy hops pulling in on the reins. Very nice and well deserving of the reputation, but there is just something missing that keeps it from being one of my favorites.

 

Started with Troegenator, ending with Troegenator. Given the time of day I might open one more Troegenator, but I do want to get in an IPA review on NBW before the weekend ends!


Cheers!

 

Good evening Advocates!
As the third beer of the tasting, a few minutes ago I opened a pearl that I kept for years in a home cellar (at a fixed temperature), after drinking it many years ago and, while not belonging by definition to one of my favorite styles, it literally drove me crazy , so despite the very high price I took a bottle to keep.
I'm sipping one

Ska Brewing (Colorado, USA) - LOCAL SERIES ON THE SLY AGAIN # 21 - German Weizenbock (???%)

It's a weizenbock, so clearly we're talking about an high fermentation beer.
On the label neither expiration nor alcohol content (if you have any news about this, let me know).
In my opinion it is not below 8.5%.
Recipe by Pam Bradley, from Austin (Texas) produced following the victory, in the respective category, of the annual homebrewing competition organized by the brewery:
https://beerpulse.com/2012/06/ska-on-the-sly-again-weizenbock-chosen-as-gabf-pro-am-entry/
On the nose immediately caramel note, of panettone.
Not abundant brown foam, however it remains on the surface.
In the mouth the beer is fairly flat (light carbonation).
The drink is hot: caramel, candied sugar, candied fruit (raisins), sour cherries, plums, a final liqueur note that closely reminds me of a Passito di Pantelleria wine.
New hints emerge with every sip and at every slightest temperature tempering (molasses, maple syrup reflections, almonds ...)
Quite dry finish on the tongue, while sweet, liqueur and candied fruit scents echo on the palate.
It has the characteristics of a tasting beer, with a warm alcoholic note that is felt after drinking.
Taste still very complex, in my opinion what it has lost compared to the bottle drunk many years ago, is a little body ... I remembered it more "full" able to sustain a gustatory complexity, however, always of great complexity, instead, I found it more "watery", compared to my expectations and what I remembered.
This is not my favorite style of beer in my tastes, but I think I am in front of a really good product. And also unique, if you like, since I read "retired" in the database and it was a unique specimen that I had kept in my home cellar after drinking this same beer, but much younger.
Thanks for this tasting, I'm happy to have opened it on this occasion after years in the cellar!







Sláinte !
Cheers !

 

You have our kitchen granite counter and tile backsplash (exact!). I wish I had that beer today.

 

Late night Bock!

Nothing I could add.

Prost!

 

Also noticed the beer @Jack_14 posted yesterday (Mahrs Bräu Heller Bock). I'll try to find these beers.

Thanks for the info!

 

One more Troegenator


4.05/5 rDev +2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/694/4109/?ba=mikeinportc#navigation

 

Cheers to all.

Back to the one that started me out on Friday morning. I really enjoyed the weekend. A big thank you to @TongoRad.