The Beer Critic

Brewery Website: http://www.anchorbrewing.com/

Type of Beer: Bock

Alcohol Content: 5.5%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Poured a very murky brown with chestnut highlights. Much darker than what I was expecting. The two-finger, billowy, off-white head stuck around quite a while before finally fizzling down to a thin ring of lace that sat on top of the beer. This is one really good looking beer.

Smell: The smell was sweet as expected but surprising complex. Notes of toasted malts, dark fruit, molasses and brown sugar come through first then give way to a nice citrus hop resin with a touch of smokiness. This is one of the best smelling bocks I’ve come across to date. Fantastic.

Initial Taste: Since the smell of this bock was so unique and complex one would assume those qualities would carry into the taste. And one would be correct, to a point. The sweet flavors we noticed in the smell are very prevalent in the initial taste; caramel, dark fruits (plums, figs and raisins), chocolate and burnt sugar. The mouthfeel was smooth and a bit slick but the high carbonation made it feel a little too thin. Sadly that nice hoppy citrus resin we found in the smell never really made it’s way into flavor. The finish does have a slight citric yet smokey bitterness but it’s not really a match for the sweet ingredients.

Thoughts: This was quite an interesting review as site and smell aspects of this review were some of the best I’ve done, yet the flavor didn’t match up. Anchor is no slouch when it comes to making some incredibly flavorful beer, however I think more of a balance could be struck with this Bock style beer. Like their Christmas Ale (2011) they have really amped up the sweet and smokey flavors but unlike their Christmas Ale the citrus bitterness was only their in spirit and not really strong enough to make a difference in the balance. I”ll admit I’m not a big fan of big malty beers like bocks but I think there are other beers in this style that have found a way to balance the scales slightly better. That being said it really isn’t a bad beer. It’s got some terrific sweet characteristics that will please the strongest of sweet toothed beer drinkers. So if you fall into that category then I highly recommend. BUT this bock is only available between Jan and May so you’d better hurry! Cheers

Like the blue haired snow birds of Florida we say goodbye to our hop laden friends who have kept us company all winter. But fear not these delicious warming winter beers will surely be back when they are most needed. But for now the bone chilling cold of winter is gone and warm breezes of spring are well upon us. So we say hello to a myriad of seasonal Springs beers to help make that transition from winter snow to the sweat of summer.

Springs beers are some of the most unique as there really isn’t any defining style for this beer. You will find some repeated flavors such as fruit like apricots (Dogfish Head Aprihop), oranges (Blue Moon Rising Moon Spring Ale), strawberries (Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager)  or pear (Southampton Biere de Mars), and springs standard – honey (Sam Adams Noble Pils). But fruits do not cover the gamut that is spring seasonal beers. On the shelves you will find IPA’s, Pilsners, Hefeweizens and the probably the most popular of springs selections – Bocks.

Bocks were created in Germany during the 14th century. They were the beer of choice during the Roman-Catholic religious event known as Lent. Unsurprisingly as this event happens during spring the tradition of drinking these bock beers caught on and have now become a standard offering for spring beer.

According to Michael Jackson in his book Ultimate Beer, the beers of spring are Bocks:

The idea of special beers for spring is strongest in Germany, especially in the state of Bavaria and its capital, Munich. Spring beers there are usually strong lagers, often dark in color. German brewers call a very strong product a Bockbier. Some even have “Double” Bocks. In Munich, a Doppelbock is regarded as a strong warmer to cure the winter blues as spring arrives. A third variation is the May Bock, sometimes paler and drier.

Without going too in depth, Bock beer is simply a very malty beer with little hop bitterness that carries an abv of about 6% or higher. My personal favorite type of bock beer is Maibock or May Bock. This beer is a bit softer than the other bocks and carries a lower abv. That being said there is still a high level of malt in this beer compared to hops. The stick to the roof of your mouth sweetness that you find in the other bocks is still present but just not as strong. A good sample of this style is Gordon Biersch Maibock.

I hope before this season is over you will have the opportunity to sample some of these fine beers and who knows maybe the spring seasonals will become your favorite beers. So here is to spring and the coming of warm weather and to the many different spring beers we have to enjoy until this season is over. Cheers!