Maybe a tad early still but one of my favorite times of the year. We are fortunate to have some quality bocks brewed in the MN/WI area and I am looking forward to many but to me the king of regular bocks and perhaps the best beer made in MN in Schell Bock. Clean bready maltiness with dark fruits as well (dark cherry)...world class and great prices....I may not buy much other beer for the next month or two... Others I am eagerly looking forward to: New Glarus Uff Da (If they still make it) Captial Dark Doppelbock (again not sure if it being made)
I have enjoyed a couple sixers of Schell's Bock already. I like it because it has a little more hop presence than the typical bocks we are use to. Even though we have Schell's exceptional example, I would like to see some more local bocks on the shelf.
I just happened to mention this in a non-regional thread, but it will probably get more appreciation here; Northbound just did a great dopplebock: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29923/111391/
ChewBOCKa from Confluence Brewing here in DSM was just released last week. It's even better than last year.
UffDa just got done, it was the fall seasonal. Still got two bottles in my fridge but I think it is gone everywhere around here. The Capital Dark Dopplebock was awesome but hasn't been around for about 1.5 years.
I was talked into getting the Doppelbock by the bartender, and I was not disappointed. In fact, I liked it better than Hot Box
By any chance, did you get there when they had both last year's and this year's on tap? Last year's was way better. The addition of a new pepper (possibly pablano), really dominated everything. Could barely tell it was smoked, compared to the previous batch. But the dopplebock was definitely a winner.
It's interesting looking at the list of "most popular" bocks as there is only 1 that has an average over 4.0. Also the numbers on the reviews isn't very big either. Apparently the rest of the country doesn't enjoy bocks to the same degree that those in the upper midwest do, at least the traditional form. It's hard to beat Schells Bock.
I had last years version week ago at Town Hall Tap, and this years version a few days ago at Northbound. I really liked both versions, but you're right they are different beers. I thought the smokiness dominate the 2013 version, but then again it is a year old. I remember it being a lot hotter when it first came out. This years version, I thought, was a really nice example of a chili beer, but like you said it lacked smoke. The bartender did tell me that they would probable shoot for something in the middle of the two next year.
Needs to be more. No decent ones around here with the exception of Bells Consecrator over in MO, with the exception of the German standards...
