Hofmark Engel Bock

Brewed by Hofmark Brauerei
Style: Heller Bock
Cham-Loifling, Oberpfalz/Bayern, Germany

I had this beer many years ago at one time when I was only giving ratings to the beers but was too lazy and stupid to write down my thoughts. I will update this as soon as I get my hands on this beer again.

Personal Milestone: German rating #200 (out of 2568)!

Pouring from a nifty swing-top bottle, this has a light golden brown body with a creamy off-white head. This has the sweet smell of wort, caramel, and hot buttered bread. Medium bodied. The flavor is sweet caramel, fresh bread, and honey with just enough earthy hop bitterness to keep the sweetness in check. Very nicely done, and a lucky choice for my milestone.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Wine & Spirits, Chicago, IL<font size=-1>

500mL crock. Poured a very slightly hazy orangey-caramel with a lovely initial cap of off-white head. The nose picked up bunches of sweet, well-toasted and spiked caramel, brown sugar, dried herbal and leafy hops, and a pinch of smoke... I damn near got lost in it. The flavor was also heavily malt-centric with an incredible blend of drawn caramel, brown sugar, nuttiness, toffee, chewy bread dough.. accents of herbal hops, smoke, and complimentary alcohol. Crisp on the palate with well-placed bitterness and alcohol warmth. This was an excellent beer!

Swing-top bottle from the Rare Beer Club. Translucent amber body with a quickly disappearing, frothy tan foam resting upon it. Aroma conjures light caramel, crisp grassiness, warm buttered biscuits and almost some honey. Taste is creamy malts, light hops, some grassy notes, fresh bread, and mild caramel. Body is crisp with dryness around the edges and moderate carbonation. Finishes crisp and dry with light caramel, biscuits, grassy notes, light fruit and buttered bread. Very good indeed!

Bottle: Vibrant caramel, moderate to large foamy off-white head, spotty lacing, very light carbonation.   Rich malty aroma, caramel, semi-sweet, somewhat bready.   Malty, smooth on the tongue, albeit somewhat light.   Moderate to light body and mouthfeel.   Clean, solid, but a lighter example of the style.   Still tasty tho.   Thanks Mike for this unexpected surprise!

Glassy honey gold. Off-white medium-sized bubbles hug the glass. Immaculate aroma of toffee, fresh hay, herbal hops, and minerals. Equally crispy and fuzzy carbonation. Firm body. Soothingly malty and lush, but with a slick, understated toffee apple sweetness. Cleansing sweep of alcohol resets the palate. Squeaky clean and focused at the same time, though. Firm mineral character curtails the rounded huskiness, but an abundance of fresh hay and deeply toasty malt astringency holds its ground. Subtle apple fruitiness coincides with spicy alcohol whispers to create an effect of dessert apples. Striking composure in the finish between herbaceous spiciness from the hops and the delicate sweetness of toffee glazed toast. One of the cleanest, most exquisite Bocks you’ll find, although I consider this more of a sweetish Helles, than a Bock. Sparklingly aromatic [clean as a whistle and yet has a good degree of complexity to it], polished/well-balanced flavors, and krausened in the bottle, to boot?! Splendid.

Thanks to The_Beer_God for the bottle. Gray 500ml swingtop bottle that was capped with a crown. Clear amber body topped by a dense foamy alabaster head that leaves thick lace on the glass. The aroma is lovely, nutty, biscuity, sweet malt, yum. The aroma is more helles-esque, not as sweet as a bock. The flavor is really nice and shows that it is in fact a bock. Toffee, biscuits, standing outside of a bakery, light herbal hops kick in and really bring thins together. Medium palate, very crisp and clean throughout all the while evolving and never becoming boring or just another bock. Color me impressedm, very impressed.

Clear amber body with virtually no head. The aroma is quite grainy and beginning to show signs of oxidation. The grains are accompanied by some slightly sweet brown sugar and some mild nuttiness. The body is sharp and explosively carbonated, quite unpleasant on the tongue. The initially sweet flavor is suddenly interrupted by extremely harsh, unpleasant bitterness. The nuttiness and sweetness disappear like a vapor in a stiff wind. Quite disappointing and probably not in it’s best shape, but too expensive to make it worthwhile to try again.