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

Good afternoon BA

Before I move to the beer at hand, I will say it's getting harder and harder to find any bock other than a doppelbock locally and it makes me sad.

Thanks to @Victory_Sabre1973, I am the first nonresident of Minnesota to review this beer. August Schell's Limited Batch Maibock

The review:

12oz can stamped 07/01/21 poured into a Celebator pokal glass at just above fridge temp 6.3% ABV 60 IBU per label. The beer pours bright golden honey amber in color with off white head. The head recedes slowly to a thick cap and leaves plenty of lacing. The aroma is mild with pils malt, floral hops and a distinct note of lemongrass. The taste is semisweet toasted malt with a gentle floral, grassy citrus hop note capped by a moderately bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, very, very good. When you get that balance of malt to hop in a maibock and there's no hint of a brewing flaw, you have something special. I would happily drink this one by the liter.

Thanks James for this delicious beer and thank you all for the great posts thus far.

 

Hofbrau Maibock, beautiful pour amber with frothy head sustains well, sticky lacing, sweet bready malts, dates, fig, candy - enjoying this but a bit too sweet for my liking. Thanks @TongoRad for kicking this off

 

Dialing things up a notch with this 7.5% ABV doppelbock collab between Threes and the brewer of the first bock I posted here, Folksbier. Threes is another Brooklyn based brewery that really excels at lagers. The pedigrees of these partners bodes well for the quality of this beer. Let’s see if it lives up to anticipation.
Pours a beautifully garnet-tinted deep brown, crowned by a 2-finger ecru head that slowly settles to a skim and ring. Little lacing. Mild aromas of dark bread dough and toffee emanate from my mug, along with a trace of root beer. Flavors mostly correspond, joined by a little dark fruit and earthy hops. Sweet overall, but avoids being cloying thanks to the well-calibrated hopping. Medium mouthfeel, with just enough carbonation to enliven the liquid. Well executed and very enjoyable.

 

Nice! I'll be tasting that for the first time tomorrow.

 

Celebrator used to be called Fortunator in Germany until Ayinger switched it to conform to their US export. Thought I'd mention it in case that's the reason why you haven't had it earlier than 2018... but I have no idea when that change happened though. Could have been 5 years ago or 25 years ago.

Whew! I am glad it worked out in the end.

Damn. You win the award for "the person I am most jealous of."

 

Yeah, me, too!

 

I think you'll like it. I was pretty excited to get several beers from Schell's in that trade.

 

Ha! Props to Ardent for the name of the beer alone. Elicited an audible guffaw from me. Can’t be easy coming up with unique ‘ator’ names these days.

 

Doppelbock by Workhorse Brewing Co.

A new beer to me from a local brewery. VERY SPICEY....WOW!! Smokey and Meaty too. Can says "smooth, toasted and malty"....Where is the malty flavor? Ooof WAY too SPICEY for my palate. I'm going try and power through this one, LOL

 

Bock part 2
I'm not going to apologize for loving this beer. Pull a fresh six pack out of a closed case once and you'll see what I mean.

Spaten Optimator
Nose is subdued in the stein. Slightly sweet and predominantly toasted malt. Flavors include raisin, date, burnt sugar caramel and dark bread. Moderate bitterness. Medium to full bodied with nice carbonation. This one hits my ABV sweet spot at 7.6%. Great to pair with whiskey or savor several over an evening.

Thanks for putting this together @TongoRad

 

The last Bock variety that I was able to find. Tomorrow will have to be a day of repeats.

Beautiful color, fabulous head, wonderful smell. I would need to set this side by side with a Vitus to see which I like better. Both have been incredible finds. I stayed in the Hefeweizen land but now know to head to Weizenbocks.

Cheers everyone.

 

At 8.4%, this one always strikes me as more “warming” than anything. Bold and assertive; Winter Spezial!



A great pairing for a chilly, sunny spring day with soul and blues filling the space.


Cheers!

 

I guess if you are listening to KMFDM then this video is fitting.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Side note, name-related, I didn't realize Andygator was a doppelbock. Even after realizing it was on the most-rated list, I still didn't get the -ator suffix until today in this thread.

 

S. Bocks:
Super Bock
Shiner Bock

I had these two before going to bed yesterday, but I'm only getting around to posting now. Neither of these are what I'd call "Bockbier" - or Bock by the German legal definition. Super Bock isn't actually marketed as a bock (and by that I mean a type of beer)... Super Bock is really the brand name. It's the most popular beer in Portugal. If you're guessing that it's probably a 5.2% ABV pale adjunct lager (made with corn), you'd be right.

Shiner Bock is an American bock - something that was once popular... but as a beer-type has drifted away from the German origins. In the US, it became a distinction more about color than strength... generally speaking.

Shiner Brewing started in Texas in 1909. It was bought by Kosmos Spoetzl in 1915 and took on the name Spoetzl. It survived prohibition. At first, Shiner Bock was a Lentenbock - a bock brewed for Lent and available in the spring. But it became a year-round beer. It was only available in Texas for almost all of the 20th century. Spoetzl was in bad shape when they were sold to the Gambrinus Company in 1989. With the new ownership, things got much better. Production increased and Shiner beers became widely available.

I've seen @jesskidden (who should correct anything here that needs correcting... please) state that Shiner Bock is a bit lighter in color and ABV than the average American bock of the past century. I remember disparaging remarks from others that American bocks were often little more than a brewer's standard adjunct lager with added coloring (or perhaps just enough coloring malt for appearance). Shiner bock is just 4.4/4.5 ABV and is brewed with corn. I thought this was the perfect opportunity for a blind side-by-side. I also included Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel (not pictured) as a German Bock despite its high ABV. I had these in opaque cups and I even had to take the extra step of closing my eyes when taking a drink. This was a fun comparison.

First off, the Andechs beer was an obvious stand out. It was clearly the unique beer in the group... so I eventually removed it so I could just concentrate on the other two. In this context, Shiner Bock and Super Bock were quite similar. Shiner Bock had much more in common with the standard pale adjunct lager than it did with the German Doppelbock. Shiner Bock and Super Bock were both very light on the palate and a bit sweet. Super Bock was smoother, fuller, and had a touch of acidity. Shiner Bock was watery and had a subtle maltiness.

In the end, I could only guess which was which (and that's saying something)... but I guessed right. Most importantly, I couldn't distinguish the two in terms of malt character, I ONLY based my guess on the differences in body. The smaller ABV of Shiner Bock was the giveaway. After the reveal, I drank a bit of each in regular glasses, and in this context, I felt like I was actually getting some roasted malt character in Shiner Bock. I couldn't say if this was a case of the color of the beer influencing my perception by tricking it or allowing me to notice something actually there but subtle.

@MNAle
@JackHorzempa

 

My last for the evening. Not necessarily what one thinks of with a "bock", but it is labeled a "Weizendoppelbock", and it is certainly strong enough:

Schneider Weisse Hopfenweisse Weizendoppelbock - Pours a very nice orange-amber with excellent head. Mouthfeel is typical Schneider Wiesse: creamy and luxurious. Flavor is excellent, as always. It has a honey-like weizen base, with touches of clove and banana and a bit of honey sweetness. Fairly typical for a weizenbock. But then layered on top is hoppy-IPA-like citrus and floral notes, which appeals to my IPA-loving soul. And sometimes I even get a hint of smoky-earthiness, which is definitely present today. A wonderful, distinctive weizenbock.

What I find most interesting about this beer, though, is its variability. I can get it at my local supermarket (lucky me!) and I have had it on tap in Munich (like a pilgrimage...), and the age of the beer makes a major difference in what you get. Fresh (Munich tap), it is almost like an DIPA: caramel backbone with loads of hops. Bottled from my supermarket, with 3+ months on it, it is less an IPA, and more a hopped weizenbock where the caramel, cloves and banana take center stage with a hint of hoppiness in the background. And I love both of these different beers, and all of the variations on the age spectrum as it changes character. It is different, yet brilliant, at every variation.

 

As I recall, Primator is a brand name (“family of beers”) from the Czech brewery Nachod.

Their “doppelbock” is a rich, decadent, boozy mess of a lager (much closer to the sort of Baltic Porters which proliferate in Eastern Europe):

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/707/14523/

I highly recommend a go-round with this one for the sheer sake of the buzz, even though it goes a bit off style.

Cheers!