Wisconsin resident here. I recently tried my first bock and I liked it quite a bit. The one I tried was the maple bock made by the hinterland brewing company. Does anybody have suggestions for good bocks to try.
Shells and New Glarus make some outstanding bocks. Then Ayinger Celebrator and Bells Consecrator for doppelbocks and you're set for life. Cheers!
If you're interested in Maibocks, the Schell's Maifest is now available and it's great. I don't understand why it's not more highly rated.
I think Capital quality has diminished over the years sadly. Still worth a try but I am often let down now.
August Schell Bock is just now out of season, but some places have it still kicking around. The "Bock" from Full Sail (a dopplebock) is pretty good, too.
They have gone through a couple of master brewers, so I can understand it. Hopefully the newest one, Ashley, will stick around for a bit and hone in her skills.
I hate to say it because a lot of places do fine when brewers leave but ever since Kirby left their beers have suffered and the direction they have taken with their offerings has been curious to say the least,
I think that you are better off sticking to the German versions. To me the American versions don't compare with the depth of malt flavor. That being said, I always used to like Capital. It hasn't been available in KC for a while, so I don't know what their beers are like now.
Seems like a pretty good amount of the bocks are brewed during the winter. Is this pretty much the case most of the time?
That's true in the U.S. In the early 20th century dozens of bocks were brewed over the winter for release prior to Easter, before the style faded from view -- aside from a few regional examples which never really went away, of course. In Germany Festbiers are often considered bocks, and are brewed for different seasons, rather than just Lent; These next two links share information pertaining to the origins of the style (and for biers called bock which are not bottom fermenting): http://www.germanbeerguide.co.uk/bock.html http://beer.about.com/od/boc1/a/BockHistory_3.htm
That was my favorite until I had Andechs last week side by side with Korbinian. Much prefered Andechs and that is saying something as I love Korbinian.
Not yet but hopefully not too far off. Waiting for confirmation in the Andech thread in this forum. http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/kloster-andechs-mn-distro.263566/
I got it at Happy Harold's in Grand Forks. I have not seen it in MN but when it arrives I will be buying a ton as long as it is priced reasonable. Payed about $5 for a liter sized bottle....would do that over and over again....$6 for a pint at one of the upstart breweries in St. Cloud or $5 for a pint of this I can enjoy at my leisure.....no contest....I digress...
