MIA Happy Hour, Bock it Up

June 20, 2008
So we finally had a happy hour for our investment club. They messed around and let me and the wife choose the location. Pretty easy choice, the Sauce.


I had been feeling a little down about Shiner Bock not being a real bock according to the Sauce. The Sauce does not even put Shiner Bock on it's Bock menu, but in the Vienna style. I even felt weird considering that Weizenbock I didn't like in Austin that some folk are calling World Class. So I decided to try a few different bocks this time to get back into bocks.


Sam Adams White Ale
Hey, they had it on sale for like $2.75. Nobody had shown up to the Happy Hour yet, so I had some time. It came in a bottle and I poured it in a pilsner glass. Kinda cloudy and orange. White strong head. Nice tasty beer that had a medium creamy body. I taste the spice and orange early on, and then the malt and bread near the end. Low hops on aftertaste. Very good beer and probably one of my favorites from Sam Adams. 3 Stars

Rogue's Dead Guy (Maibock)
Finally I'm getting my hands on the Dead Guy. It was on draft and poured into a pilsner glass. The guy I'm shooting the shyt with is finding it funny that I'm writing in a journal. I just finished eating the Big Dipper, and hearty roast beef sandwich. It's a dark orange color with a quickly retreating head, light cloudiness. It smells of caramel and chocolate, maybe some alcohol smell as well. It kind of reminds me of a barley wine (ie the brown ale of lagers). I put WOW in my notebook after tasting it. Medium fine carbonation, light-medium body. Some breadiness on the aftertaste. It has some high alcohol like the dunkelweissen's I've had before. The sweetness is akin to maple syrup for me. And the breadiness is coming out after I've gotten used to the sweetness. Maybe it was because I had a white ale first, but I'm going to give this one 4 stars.

Spaten Optimator
Glass to chalice. Dark brown, with a tan head that disappears quickly. It smells malty but a little off, kinda like trash. Bready and malty-sweet taste, more bread than Dead Guy. Goes down quick, with high carbonation. Oh Yeah. Slight alcohol taste with a light-medium body. Welcome back to bocks baby. 3 Stars.

Paulaner Salvatore
The waitress poured this one in a snifter, neat. Sweet and malty smell with a dark red color. Pretty syrupy with high alcohol flavor. I'm not going to count it as I'm getting kind of tipsy, but it's very good.

I think I had a few more Dead Guys to wrap up the night, and we got some more people interested in our club. It looks like a good bet that every time I frequent the sauce, I will have several of one style. This kind of gives me an opportunity to see what's different about a particular style. One would think Bocks should be dark, but in one night I saw ones that were brown to ones that were dark red. They even poured them in different types of glasses. One thing for sure, they damn sure pack a punch. I was chugging some Gatorade to stave off the hangover that night.