Texels Bock

ABV 7%

After a visit at Texel island a couple a years ago, I came back with a selection of beers from the Texels brewery and this one was one of the best amongst them. I got it again this year and I realized I hadn't written a review, so here it is.

300 ml bottle, poured into a snifter. Bottle fermented.

Pours a very dark ruby colour, almost brown, with two fingers of thick, creamy head, beige in colour and with excellent retention. Some light lacing is being left at first around the glass.

Smell of caramel, roasted malts and dark chocolate. If you smell hard enough you get an alcohol smell too.

Taste is slighty sweet at first, then turning into a softly bitter taste, leaving on the aftertaste flavours of biter chocolate and caramel.

Full body and as much carbonation as needed.

A grea beer, I can see why it keeps winning "best bock beer" prize in the Netherlands.

3.9/5

look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bavaria Hooghe Bock

ABV 6,5%

300 ml bottle, at home. Poured into my snifter glass. Ingredients are water, barley, wheat and hops. 

Pours a dark ruby coloured beer, a couple of tones paler than other bocks I had recently but still, very beautiful. One and a half fingers of beige head, with very good retention. Some very light lacing left behind on the glass, where the foam has touched it.

Very strong aroma of caramel and roasted malts, then some toffee.

On the taste is sweet in general, with slighty bitter aftertaste. At first caramel and dark fruits, then a faint taste of dark bitter chocolate.

Thin to medium on the body and very dry on the palate. Carbonation is average.

Nice beer, easily drinkable, maybe a bit too sweet for a bock.

3.43/5

look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

La Trappe Bockbier

ABV 7%

Untill now this is the best bock beer I've tried this year. Those monks really know what they're doing.

This is the only Trappist bock beer and the only bock beer that continues to ferment slightly in the bottle, at least according to their website.

Small bottle of 300 ml. Ingredients arewater,  barley, wheat and oat malts, yeast and aromatic hops. Some yeast can be found in the bottle of course.

Pours a very dark ruby coloured beer, with a huge beige head of 3-4 fingers in height, thick and creamy, with excellent retention. Heavy lacing around the glass as the foam is going down, but never away. A thin layer of foam persists around the glass, while a big chunk of it lingers on the centre of the beer's surface. Shake your glass a bit and another thin line of foam appears again, with almost the same sustainable retention.

A fantastic aroma on the nose from the hops. Light caramel , alcohol, some apricot, plums and other dark fruits.

Taste is great too. Sort of sweet at first but with a definitely bitter aftertaste. Caramel, coffee and dark bitter chocolate flavours.

Medium thickness on the body and average carbonation.Quite dry on the palate, with this dryness helping the bitter taste to stay longer in the  outh.

As I wrote before, this is the best bock beer I've tasted this far. I will surely get some more to drink during the cold days of autumn plus another couple to keep in my cellar.

Hertog Jan Bockbier

                                  
ABV 6,5%

I got a couple of those in a supermarket since they didn't have anything better. Your dutch bottle of 300 ml, poured into a snifter. Smells a bit sour as I open the bottle.
Once poured, it gave me a dark ruby coloured beer, with one finger of beige head, with average retention. Light lacing around the glass at first, then nothing. Some traces of foam insist during the whole drinking process.
On the nose alcohol, light caramel and if you inhale deep enough, a smell of burned wood. Although subtle, it makes a difference. Oh, also some dark fruits.
Taste is more sweet than bitter. Bitterness is more obvious on the back of the tongue though and for a little while lingers around the mouth. Mostly flavours of roasted malt and caramel.
Nice thick body. High carbonation.
Well, nothing too impressive, but with the dryness on the palate, the alcohol abscent from the taste and only present as a warming feeling, this beer has a high drinkability.

3.1/5
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3



                                         

Grolsch Herfstbock

I had this last year and I wasn't planning to get it again this year too, but it was on offer, so here it is.
A standard dutch bottle of 300 ml, with an ABV of 6.5%. Ingredients include sugar to sweeten it and caramel as a colouring agent. Poured into a snifter glass.

It pours a beer with a dark ruby colour, but not so deep as in other bock beers I had recently. Two fingers of beige head, that disappeared quickly, leaving behind light lacing.
On the aroma mostly caramel, it's missing all the characteristic aromas of a bock.
Taste is sweet, aftertaste is sweet too. Again, mostly caramel and that's pretty much it. At least alcohol is not that obvious.
On the body is quite thin, with light carbonation. Very flat for a bock.
Overall, I was disappointed by this one, having recently tried quite a few of the other bock beers on the market. They tend to be sipping beers but this one goes down as easy as an ordinary lager and I don't mean it in a complimentary way. It's not bad, but it's not that good for a bock beer.

2.85/5
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3