Spring Bock Beer Tasting

It's the most wonderful time of the year! BOCK SEASON BABY! After the dog days of summer and the 58 minutes of winter we get in Houston, nothing NOTHING is better than late February in Houston, Texas. 70 degrees outside, crawfish are starting to pop up, and I can be found on the golf course on my Friday's off. But that also means that the Spring Bocks are back. Sweet, malty, low hops, crisp, easy to drink, clean, pure. I absolutely love. So let's make it happen.

Beer Log: Right now

State: A little loopy from last nights beering, especially the Saint Arnold Farmer's Brown

Abita Mardi Gras Bock

Clear amber, kinda great malt nose, a pinch raisiny taste, low hops. Has a nice water thing going that Abita is known for. Nice light body, good mouthfeel. Sure could use some crawfish right now. Light bitter aftertaste that barely lingers. High 3 stars.

Boulevard Boss Tom's Golden Bock

Golden, pinch more straw. Good caramel malt and raisin thing going on. Smell something like wheat. Good chewier beer. Has a light bread thing going, seemingly noble hops and whatnot. Nice cookie thing going on. High 3 stars, but not as high as Abita's Mardi Gras.

Saint Arnold Bock

Tinged amber color. Syrup sweet thing smell. Big caramel/cinnamon thing, with a pinch of brown sugar. Great meld of sweetness with crisp crisp aftertaste. After you drink it, it's like sipping a new one. 5 stars.

Breckenridge Pandora's Bock

Even a darker amber, copper color. Head waned quickly, so not much nose. Much stronger sweetness than SA, but a little more cloying. Has some chalkiness to it. I like the way it comes together, just that the water is not there. It's actually great, just came after the SA Bock. 4 stars.

Sierra Nevada 2011 Glissade Golden Bock

Great golden straw color. Nice lasting head. Cookie sweetness thing again. Much softer beer, better taken care of than b-ridge. Has a light hop and light sweetness to it. Extremely drinkable. A little more balanced with the hops. Has a lemony hop I'm getting now. Palate getting low. High 3 stars.

Gordon Biersch Blonde Bock

Very clear straw. Very tasty caramel malt, nice sweetness, low hops. Has a little honey thing going on as well. Great light mouthfeel as well. Has some light bread to it, but more of a oatmeal raisin bread. Funny thing is I don't care for raisins, but I love the flavor in the beer. Kinda running out of taste buds there. No rating right now.

Bashah, not the kind you smoke either

Sitting here drinking down some Sierra Nevada Bashah, watching some Winter Olympic coverage. The wife and I just took in a matinee of The Wolfman. Not a bad movie. A little slow at times, and very dark. The violence was pretty realistic. Del Toro looked out of place in this movie, maybe I'm just used to his characters in Sin City and Snatch.

Beer Log: Right now
State: Chilling out...

Sierra Nevada Glissade
Drinking this one out of my 2005 North Carolina NCAA Championship mug. Orangish clear with a fizzy but strong head. Nose has that lager-veggie smell, with a nice sugar sweetness to it. Beer has a nice breadiness to it, a low but noticeable hops, and a decent light maltiness. Tastes very noble-hop like for a Sierra Nevada. The beer is just very soft and poofy, and a lot better than the first time I had it. Low 3 Stars.

Now let's go back in time to last night...

Beer Log: Yesterday
State: Eating pizza and wings

Hole in the Rock (MDII, Minhas)
The wife found this one in one of those gift 6 packs. I believe these beers are supposed to be with some old recipes. Amber clear with lager and caramel nose. On the taste, there's not much going on besides smoothness. There is a slight malt with the pizza. Low 2 Stars.

Bashah
The collabo with Stone and Brew Dog. We had this in the house for months and I haven't tried it b/c the last time I had a Brew Dog beer it tasted like I was tasting a cigarette on the wrong side. Oh it's real. I poured this beer in my Old New Orleans rum glass. Not much head. Slight porter roast nose with a pitch black color. They billed this beer as a Dark Belgian Double IPA. And damned if they didn't hit all three flavors. It's a party of roast, smoke, coffee, infused with sourness and citrus, followed with a strong cascade hops in the aftertaste and finish. As it warms, the hops just overpower whatever was belgian about this beer and much of the dark part, and it devolved into a dark strong double IPA. High 3 Stars. Not that it's not bad, but they put it all in there. Oh it's real.

Great stuff overall. And in honor this and the many of other great collaborations in beer, here's one of my favorite collabos.

A couple of beers before Monday

Well, we have some of these supposedly historic recipe beers. Not sure where the wife picked these up, but I do know that historic recipes are historic for a reason. But it's always interesting to see what the boys at MDII.

Tejas
This pours caramel color with a quickly fading tan head. The nose is a light malt. The bottles says this beer has caramel malts, black malts, and so forth. I get a touch of caramel but a sourness and cardboard. Maybe just a function of how longs it's been sitting wherever it was. Otherwise, it crisp yet pretty watery. Low 2 Star. Funny. The recipe on the bottle made it sound like Sam Adams Boston Lager, and the taste is like Michelob Light. Damn shame. And beer advocate has it as a bock.

Dogfish Head Fort
Well let me get that taste out of my mouth with some good old Dogfish head. This beer looks kinda reddish while in the bottle, and it is now a reddish as you would think. The smell is raspberry'd up and the taste is the same. Only pure raspberry juice has more sweetness and bitterness. I think they messed around a let some stems into the mash. Oh it's real. It comes off medium to full bodied out of my champagne flute. Also you can sense the plum taste of alcohol. Not taste, just sense. The raspberry just totally overpowers the Warrior hops. Maybe cuts the sweetness enough so it's not too cloying and syrupy. 4 Stars for the men using a ton of raspberries in their beer.

Perfect beer to give to a special lady in your life. And at 18% Alcohol content you can get her fired up for a long night. Need to make sure the wife finish the bomber. Oh it's real. Also probably a killer dessert drink.

Beering in Amsterdam: And Later On

We met this one energetic American outside the Heineken Experience and she was going on about how we should go to this random pub crawl. We saw their flyers around the hostel and were kinda blah. We figured whatthehell, but had some time to kill. I went to the smallest pub in Amsterdam.

I messed around and had some Palm and some Leffe Blonde. The Palm was terrible, the Leffe was just fine as usual.

Next thing we know, that night we are on the street train to Leidesplien, an area with lots of bars and clubs. We ran into many Americans and others folks, lots of Australians. They had some sort of vodka shots that you took at every bar. Although if someone told me it was a rose wine I would have believed you. But if that stuff were real 80 proof vodka, I'd probably be posting this post at the bottom of a river Amstel. We enjoyed Heineken at every bar (one free beer per bar). Lots of techno and American music. Everything was fine save the last bar, which for some reason was about 1.5 miles away from the second to last bar. Great partying regardless. I have some videos but lighting is all screwed up.

Next Day we had some downtime so we hit this little cafe to try some:

Juliper
This beer from Piedboeuf has a plain lager veggie smell. Clear amber color and head has some staying power and lace. This tastes basically like a bready pilsner. Decent. Low 3 Star. Word on the street is that they are owned by InBev.

Ij Bok
By the Brewery of Amsterdam (or Brouweri 't IJ from Amsterdam). I think I threw my finger out of joint typing that name. Anyway, with some good ol' Dutch Apple Pie, I was very much looking forward to a Bock beer. Apple cider nose and has a cloudy apple cider looking with a tan reddish head. I get a lot of citrus bitterness like grapefruit on the taste, leaves your mouth dry, and has a low bitter aftertaste. Not very appealing and not what I look for in a bock. 2 Star.

Sam Adams Longshot: Alex Drobshoff

I don't know who this dude is unlike Mike McDole, but Lord knows I could use some decent BOCK. And this dude put together a good one, a Traditional Bock to be exact. For those of you just joining us, Boston Beer Company (makers of Sam Adams) have put together a homebrewers competition, where the winner gets his beer brewed and distributed through Sam Adams. And seeing as how Sam Adams is everywhere, you can best believe your beer would be to. The contest is call the Longshot. I've only had experience with the Saint Arnolds version of this one called Divine Reserve, and usually DR sells out within a few hours in Houston. So you KNOW I couldn't wait to try this one.



Beer Log: Last night

State: Still upset about the damn onsite brewer law going down

Sam Adams Longshot Traditional Bock

Very fruit nose with a touch of alcohol. Ruby brown color with a bright tan head. Finally tasting it, I get a great smoothness, followed by sweet maltiness, a little hops, moderate body, and something like a bready cookie thing in the aftertaste. Very nice. Probably perfect for the style though I'd rather have a doppelbock, though this one is rather doppelbocky in strength. The more I drink it, I get more of a touch of alcohol with a hint of bitter chocolate. Well done Drobshoff. 4 Stars.

It's Mai, so how about a Maibock

Beer Log: Right now
State: Chillin, watching some old UFC

Can't believe Rampage lost that title to Forrest Griffin

Summit Maibock
Nose is sweet and a touch veggie, kinda Premium lager like. Tinged straw color with a strong white head. Tastes like Purity Law beer. Good sweetness, a touch of funky hops. Actually kinda reminds me of those german lagers you get at the corner store.

Let's see, I stepped away to change the baby's diaper and now the beer has a chewy malty element to it. I get a touch of metal in the finish, but the beer is rather enjoyable. I'm also get a bit of some citrus hops as well. 3 Star

My Kingdom for a Bock

It's already May and I'm wondering, who do you have to sleep with to get some Bocks around here. Spring beers are now getting all cute with the styles, how bout a damn bock.

Beer Log: Right now
State: Really wanting a bock.

Anchor Bock
Smells maple syrupy sweet with a soda grassy hops. Color is a dark amber with a super strong poofy tan head. Taste is a little bready and sour and watery. Did not expect that after the nose. I get just a hint of malt and metal. There is some hops going on but it's kinda grassy and doesn't work for me. The aftertaste leaves my mouth feeling kinda dry and whatnot. Is Don Taylor gonna give an Anchor beer a 2 star? One more draught and that seals the deal, 2 stars.

Maybe I should just shut up and have my Spring beer pilsner laced with lime...

UFC 88 and Bottled Beer

Well were watching UFC 88 at Champps, getting fired up and eating way too many buffalo wings. The waiter was cool as all get out and kept bringing us free bottles of Shiner Bock. In between yelling "It's OVER" prematurely during the fights and whatnot, I happened to notice I could get a nice flavor out of Shiner out of the bottle. Got the slight high carbo, but also got that light chocolate and light syrupyness that I get in the more hardcore bocks. The waiter then brought out a glass that was broken, so he brought out some pilsner glasses for the third beer. In the glass, I just was not getting as much flavor at all. What the hell is this? Anyone ever experience somethhing like this. The fourth beer (in a bottle) was back to normal and the reason I starting drinking SB in the first place.

I only had 4 SBs, so I wasn't even tipsy. Although you couldn't anyone else that, as when my boy Rashad Evans dropped Chuck Liddel like a sack of potatoes, I was the only, and I MEAN ONLY guy who got fired up and hype. Normally at Champps you get a portion of the crowd that just wants to see the action (like it seemed like for all the undercard fights), and a smaller portion that is actually rooting for one guy. The more we thought about it at while trying Scotch at Downing Street, I was the only guy even making noise at the knockout. Normally a big knockout is just a clustereff with people clapping hands and a couple of guys trying to sneak out without paying the bill. Luckily we paid the bill quickly and got THE F&CK out of there before someone tried to holler at me.

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.