Kulmbacher Mönchshof Bockbier

Brewed by Kulmbacher Brauerei (Schörghuber)
Style: Dunkler Bock
Kulmbach, Germany

Bottle. Cramy white good mostly deminishing head. Amber colour. Heavy malty and hoppy aroma, a little breadlike. OK palate.

Swing-top bottle bought on Vinmonopolet, Norway. Clear brown colour with some long lived head. Nice appearance. Not so much aroma. Straightforward flavour with moderate malty undertones. Light bodied. A very average bock product.

Bottled. Copper-colored with a small, off-white head. Vague, sweet, malty aroma. Some cooked vegetables too. Flavor is quite weak too, light sweet and fruity-malty. A little roasted and caramelly. Probably the prickling on the tongue mask some of the flavor. Hoppy finish. Rating: 4-2-4-2-9-2.1. (060128)

It pours a nice creamy beige head over a deep golden body. Some vegetables in the aroma, along with maltyness, caramel and some sweetness. Nice flavor with malty sweetness, and also here some vegetables are found. Fortunately not much. Sweet, caramel finish with a little touch of hops. Full body. Quite nice, but it would do better without the vegetables. (080411)

Swing-top bottle. Carbonated with a slick feel. Orange-amber pour with a beige head. Massive smell of grape lollipop, sweet malts made my nose prickle. Caramel and burnt malts for taste, a little grape, and some hoppy bitterness to match. Fruity accents play with each other, left my mouth feeling as if I’d just had wine. Alcohol is rather poorly hidden. Sticky, slightly strange bock.

I thought I would like this beer more. It’s a mild bock even with the 6.9, which really doesn’t show up anywhere on the tongue or the nose. Oh well.

500 ml bottle. Dark golden colour. White, lasting head. Malty aroma. Oily mouthfeel. A bit light bodied. Sweet, malty aftertaste. Too carbonated for my taste.

500 ml swingtop bottle, now available in Norway (Vinmonopolet, bestillingsutvalget). ABV is 6.9%. Orange to amber colour, large off-white head with an orange hue. Moderate aroma of malts, some fruity hops and bakery, notes of alcohol. Flavour is fairly malty and bready, some caramel sweetness, alcohol is evident but not too much. Some hoppy bitteness and slightly burnt notes in the finish. OKish, but not my favourite bock.

Orange to chestnut clear beer; good, dense yellow-brownish head. Very weird nose: sourdough and rhubarb. Strange as it may sound, it is NOT off-putting, just unsettling. It slowly gets more bready afterwards. Taste is completely at odds with the nose: dry, caramelly taste, chestnut flour, and a bit of roasted malts and hops. Mainly sweet however, even a bit dull. Well bodied, some slickness. Aftertaste is markedly burnt flavour. Disappointing taste. The nose remains unexplainable.