Berghoff Famous Bock

Brewed by Minhas Craft Brewery
Style: Dunkler Bock
Monroe, Wisconsin USA

Tap at O’Hare Airport, Chicago. Pours like flat Coke with a syrupy molasses nose. A blend of sweet carrot and earthy malt with a candy finish dominate the flavor. Average mouthfeel. Pleasant surprise; I wasn’t expecting it to be this good.

A very dark clean amber that has a medium but quickly fading off white head. Carbonation was big upon the initial pour but settled down after that. Nice looking beer. Aroma is pretty big malts, woody ash, light sour. Flavor is mildly tart malt, hints of cocoa and light smoke and caramel. I am impressed with this one. A nice basic bock.

12oz bottle acquired in trade. Poured a medium to deep mahogany color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of caramel, nuts (lots of nuts), cookie dough, light chocolate and some roast. Tastes of dough, some nuts, and roast. Thinner body.

Bottle: Very dark brown body with very little head. Aroma is what’s expected, sweet, toasty, with almond, coffee, cream, and hops notes. In the mouth, creamy flavors were first detected with some coffee-like acidity mixed in. Notes of almonds and toasted malts were noted as well. Finishes with small note of hops and a lingering coffee-like acidity. So far so good. Unfortunately, when the beer got to the temperature where a bock is supposed to be at it’s best (50-55F), this beer picked up a flat-sprite like quality that was just downright bad. So drink this one cold, and it’s fine, drink it like its a bock, and you might have problems?

Bottle. Sweet caramel-and-butterscotch aroma with a hint of fudge, but not terribly strong insgesamt. Pours deep red (near brown) with a short-lived tan head. Light body, starts crisply but mellows and softens. Toffee and cigarette ash invade the dark caramel base and contribute nothing to the blandness. Another disappointment.

Lovely dark copper color with some ruby highlights. A brisk pour leaves a fluffy tan sticky 3 finger cap that lasts and laces well. Aroma is more biased to the cocoa-coffee tones with some sweet bread dough under this...nice..smells like a rich dunkel. Moderate malt spine, medium bodied, soft mouth feel with a persistant dryish coffee-cocoa charater. Profile: Up front a tad sweet with maltose but this vanishes instantly as a rush of hops and astringent black patent malt "char" dry up the sweetness in the malts...nice silky middle where the body becomes chocolatey and mellow...drying finish with plenty of mocha-semisweet cocoa notes which drain off into a chocolate-bready aftertaste. A decent all malt commercial single bock meant for those who like more than one of these husky dark lagers. If I lived back in Calagay again I’d have this in the fridge all the time in stead of a dunkel...very drinkable single bock with a dunkel flavor profile. Very reminiscent of Creemore UrBock but with more pronounced flavors.

Dark roasted nut brown pour. Creamy off-white head. Aroma has sweet bourbony butter, light roasted fruity chocolate. Flavor thins out a slight bit, but has sweet nutty bourbon, very light roasted malts, not too bad. Some charred grassy wood as well. Overall okay beer from Huber.

Draught at the Bier Stube in Moline, IL. Cola brown color, golden around the edges. Thick foamy head that laced the glass. Smelled of figs, dried cherries, and Dr. Pepper. Flavor was interesting with hints of chocolate, smoke, and again, Dr. Pepper soda. Somewhat watery mouth feel. Strange, but okay overall.