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

Finkbrau Pils

I had crashed this one when I first reviewed it. Now, with my palate slighty more extended and a proper presentation, things were not so dramatically different, but at least, significally improved.

ABV 4,9%


Can of 500 ml from Lidl. Poured into a pokal glass.
Pours a deep golden yellow beer, with something more than two fingers of white, thick head. Heavy lacing left behind as the foam disappears very slowly. Medium activity in the glass. Malty smell, with mostly a grass aroma.
Sweet taste with a strong bitter aftertaste. Slighty metallic and hints of alcohol, although it's only 4,9% ABV.
Thin on the body with high carbonation.
Not so bad, especially if you take the price into consideration. It's not anything great either, but It could fool you on a blind test.

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

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.