Breckenridge Pandoras Bock

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Dunkler Bock
Denver, Colorado USA

Great caramel aroma, but a bit downhill after that. Pours an okay brown, little head. Mildly sweet caramel and vanilla are all I get out of this. Okay beer.

Rerate: Red-copper hue with thin lace patterns. Up front: chewy-sweet malts; toward the finish: toasted bread. Lesser notes of nuts and toffee. Only slightly cloying. Sweetness is on the verge of being too much. Hops offer nice and gentle aromas and a mild bitterness. Overall, not bad; much better than my last rating.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of malts, body odor, must, vegetables, slight caramel, and slight brown sugar. Poured copper/amber in color with a small to medium-sized tan head that diminished but lasted throughout. Clear. Lightly sparkling. Flavor is light to medium sweet. Tastes of malts, brown sugar, caramel, slight vegetables, light cardboard, and a hint of cocoa. Medium body. Thinish, dry texture. Average carbonation. Sweet, slightly salty, brown sugar and malt finish.

Aroma, thin but malty. The color is awesome, a beautiful dark copper. No head to speak of, though. Flavor is fairly weak, but what's there is spot-on. If it were as full-bodied as a bock should be, this would be a wonderfully malty brew with just enough hops to make it interesting. As it is, it's probably not worth too much of your time, but I picked it up on sale and am happy with the purchase.

Dark amber color with a small off white head. A sweet malt aroma accompanied by that Breckenridge hop aroma. A more hopped version of a bock than usual. Average.

02825B09 Bottle Code; Sampled May 2009
A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three-finger thick, lightly amber tinged, tan colored head. The beer is a ruddy amber hue that shows a brilliantly clear, light amber tinged, full copper color when held up to the light. The aroma has a nice, clean, sweet malt character to it that makes me think of grapes (though not in a fruity way), whole grain crackers, toasted whole grain bread that has been lightly sprinkled with brown sugar. There is not a whole lot going on here, and that grape note even picks up a touch of tartness as the beer warms.

Lightly sweet malt, a touch of tartness even, some herbal notes and a toasted grain astringency are noticeable as the beer first rolls across my tongue. The beer finishes with a touch of hop bitterness as well as a lingering, almost metallic, malt note that has some toasted grain, some caramelized notes and even a bit of something that reminds me of sweet tea. The body has a medium fullness to it, though it could be a touch more viscous for the style. That grape like note comes into the flavor as well and reminds me of tart / sweet green table grapes somehow.

A bit of a disappointment, it could perhaps use a bit more lagering time as it seems like it still might be a bit green. This seems like it has a good start to the malt complexity that it would need to be great, but it is just not integrated enough to really work here.

Bottle from Wine and Beer Westpark on 03/28/2009. Very clear copper amber body with light ruby highlights and a medium creamy off-white head. Toasty and bready aroma with some faint caramel and light fruity notes. Sweet sugary flavor with some toasty and bready hints and a bit of caramel. Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Bottled. Poured slightly hazy cherried-amber with a short cap of off-white head (more prolific around the edges). The aroma picked up toasted caramel and darker fruits with a dry, woodsy impression.. came across as decent but nothing special. The flavor picked up sweeter caramel and fruits with lesser brown sugar at the core.. earthy bitterness and a touch of prickly alcohol surrounded.. finished strong and bitter. Medium-bodied and slick on the palate with some tackiness on the back.. quite dry. This was decent, but I wouldn’t care for another.