Flying Dog Heller Hound Bock

Brewed by Flying Dog Brewery
Style: Heller Bock
Frederick, Maryland USA

12 oz bottle into a Shaker glass. Pours a clear yellow blonde color with a smaller whitish head. Aroma mainly has a toffee candy hint to it with heavy malt intertwined. The flavor starts with the thick sweet malt flavor then brings a tiny rush of hops amidst a yeasty malt coating to the palate. Ends on a fairly sweet, but also mildly bitter note. Okay...nothing special. Very malty!!

Had a few nights back on tap before the #$!@#$!! storm. Deep yellow, decent head and lace. Malty, candy like sweetness, smooth in body. Simple but effective. Going from memory, sorry about crappy rating.

Pours amber, pretty flat, not alot of carbonation and very small foamy tan head. Aroma is bread, a bit yeasty, with notes of pear. Very malt malt malty flavor, Heavy body, Pretty good initial bitter burn. Feels like my tongue is coated with malt. Malty semi-sweet bitter lingers for a bit.

Avg. head that disapated quickly. Light malt and hops aroma. Not much malt in the body. Hops bite at the end. I did not enjoy this as much as some other bocks.

Pours with a brilliantly clear, richly gold color and a frothy, initially three-finger-thick light tan colored head. The aroma is malt focused, yet fairly simple in its malt character, which makes sense for a Helles Bock. The aroma is not sweet, but has a richness to it that makes you know that this beer is no light weight lager. Chewy notes of fresh from the oven bread, toasty cracker notes, and a hint of caramelized malt sugars are most noticeable. There is just a hint of spicy hop character that is a touch grassy and lightly herbal.

The beer is sweetish up front, though not overly so and there is a nice herbal hop character that lightly prances throughout the flavor profile. The beer finishes with a lightly astringent bitterness and that same malt-accented sweetness that it started with. This beer has stayed nicely away from the more caramelized malts, and yet achieves a good depth of malt character despite its Helles appearance. Toasted grain notes provide a touch of dryness, to what otherwise has a rich malt sweetness. This beer is not so sweet that it is not still quaffable. It just slides right down and is dangerously quaffable, yet still has a richness and depth to it that requires contemplation after and during each sip.

This beer contains an incredible balance between malt and hop character; because the malts are not heavily roasted or caramelized the light hop character is able to shine through. Spicy hops intermingle with complexly sweetish malt layers creating quite the harmonious whole. I am quite impressed by this beer, it is perhaps better than the limited examples of the style that I have had in Germany.

<font size=-4>Purchased: <a href=http://www.58degrees.com/>58 Degrees & Holding Co., Tucson, AZ<font size=-1>

Bottle rating. Peach colored. Nose is predominantly honey. Head quickly disappears. Pretty one dimensional beer here. Basically honey and faint caramel. Not bad, just not memorable.

Deep golden color (almost light orange), clear. Lively carbonation and a small pale yellow head/crown. Aroma is kind of unexciting - slightly sweet, malt, alcohol, sawdust (?), reminiscent of a macro lager. Flavor is malty (in an extract kind of way) and a bit yeasty. Lingering bitterness and some spiciness after swallowing. Mouthfeel is a bit thin. Unfortunately I’m not too excited about this particular brew from an otherwise good brewery. 12 oz bottle.

Does not have much of a head, kind of bitter at first taste. Has a lingering aftertaste.