What's the deal with Bocks?

When that "Bock Origin" story was told to me back in that era, I remembering usually asking (with fake "naivety"):
"Gee, so since there's no longer a "Budweiser Bock", I guess Anheuser-Busch doesn't bother cleaning their vats anymore..."

 

And it was still being told into the 2000's (altho' the process was claimed to obsolete by then).

 

WTF? !!

You come across the craziest stuff.

 

What in the...

No wonder the place fell to pieces after Hans Kestler left.

 

Mating rights are crazy! BOCK!!

 

Thanks. Adding "bier" to the terms makes things clearer. Malzbier makes sense. Didn't know Lagerbier is Landbier. I was under the impression that if Landbier was a style, then it was a very loose one.

@AlcahueteJ , thanks for the recommendation. Frankly, I'm not keen on buying any more Jack's Abbey beers (I'm never really satisfied with them), but will definitely pick this up if I see a single or inexpensive 4 pack.

Apologies for getting off the bock path.

 

I'll confess. I was that customer in 1910.

 

Yeah, he must've been 'bocked' on the head too many times himself.

 

I couldn't say how they defined the categories, so I can't say much about that, but as it pertains to Oktoberfest beers it should be noted that these are statistics for the off-trade only.

 

Everyone who made a bock had to disco them bc they just don't sell. Probably because they aren't very good beers (relatively). Stick with the the authentic German examples on this one.

 

Spoetzl Brewing sells a hell of a lot of Shiner Bock. It is not exactly a beer that I seek out but plenty of others do.

AB produces a similar product branded as Zeigenbock solely for the Texas market.

Cheers!

 

As stated by someone before, Shiner is technically not a Bock. More of an American strong lager, like Mich Amber Bock. I know some brewers still make them though. In STL we have a very German craft brewer in Urban Chestnut. They make a series of seasonal Bocks that are worth drinking. However, many of the bigger nationally distroed brewers took them out of their lineups (e.g Sierra Nevada). Its easier to sell another IPA variant than a Bock. Easier to make too. It's a shame, lots of diverse styles getting crowded out. Still, its unrealistic to think that many brewers will be covering all the style bases. Especially lagers.

 

Ok, I'm now officially worried about the possibility of a nascent dyslexia. I knew how it is spelled, that's even the way I pronounce it all the time, and yet I didn't realize that I wrote it wrong in all the posts... Geez.

 

I fat finger stuff all the time, don't worry about it too much. Heck, hit reply on Steve's post today.

 

I agree with that. In my parlance it is an American Amber Adjunct Lager but to the best of my knowledge this was the case for the American produced Bock beers of a few decades ago. While I can no longer buy these sort of beers (seasonally) from most of the American breweries that used to make them 'back in the day' one brewery that still produces this sort of beer is Genesee; this past weekend I purchased a 12-pack of Genny Bock while I was on vacation in Lake Placid NY.

My primary purpose for replying to your post was to discuss your statement of "Everyone who made a bock had to disco them bc they just don't sell." It is true that most American breweries no longer produce beers labeled as "Bock" that is not universally the case. And for the case of Spoetzl Brewery the "don't sell" is not applicable.

If you use the argument of these beers not being German style Bock beers that was not the case a few decades ago as well. American breweries were not adverse to using adjuncts while brewing their seasonal "Bock" beers.

You might be interested in reading this article about American-style bock beers: http://byo.com/resources/pitching/i...old-bock-the-american-adaptation-of-bock-beer

Cheers!

 

Bock Fest is this weekend in Cincinnati, the one time a year I purge on that style.

 

I think you mean binge -- purging might be the result of too much binging, but I don't think it's where you really want to go.

 

Purge drinking sounds like a horrible problem to have. Much worse than binge drinking.

 

While not the end-all-be-all of beer style guidelines, BJCP is my go-to.

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style04.php#1a - American Dark Lager (Shiner, etc.)

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style05.php - Bock biers