Raccoon Lodge Bad Billy Blond Bock

Brewed by Cascade Brewing @ Raccoon Lodge
Style: Heller Bock
Portland, Oregon USA

Name: Blond Bock
Date: September 23, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: hazy dark yellow, fine off white head, drippy lace
Aroma: lightly sweet malt aroma with a nice spicyness
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, lots of spicy hops dries it out, light bitterness, long bitter finish
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ** /4

Close to no aroma, just some light soap and lemon. Frothy and thick mouthfeel, but empty with weak sour flavors of old grains and soap. Light yellow color with a big white frothy head.

Clear straw golden color, sticky head & lacing. The aroma has light notes of sweet fruit & malt, but they are very, very faint. The flavor has a well built body with more tart hops biting through the sweet malt body. Finishes light & lagerish. Easy drinking, smooth dry finish.

Draft at Raccoon Lodge. Pours a golden color with a small white head. Has a sweetish malty grainy caramel aroma. Sweetish malty spicy and grainy flavor with some hints of caramel. Has a slightly sweetish malty grainy finish.

Draft at the brewpub. Light citrus aroma. Golden color with a creamy white head. Medium bodied with creamy carbonation. Flavor of pale malt, noble hop, and something else. Maybe several other things. Seems complex and has strong flavors (6.23 % and 43 IBU). Finish seems rather citrus. Well balanced. Again, strong flavors. Really good.

Sampled on tap at the brewery during ABA Beer Tour ’07. Pours a semi-hazy golden pale yellow brew with a fast dissolving white head that diminished to a white ring. Nice lacing. Aroma of multi-grain malt, light honey and some slight citrus and grassy hops. Taste is light to medium bodied, some carbonation with some sweet malt, roasted nuts and honey. Finish is a good balance of sweet malt and hop bitterness at first and then a slight citrus hop aftertaste. Not as sweet as the Way Bad Billy but still a good balanced blonde bock beer.

Draught pint at Redbones on 12/03/05. Very hazy blonde ale with light rusty copper tones on the edges and a small but well-retained white head. Smells very yeasty, but a dusty, dry yeast and plenty of soily and hay-like hops. Sure, it dosent have that "cloying" aftertaste as they say, but I guess that means they didnt want this to taste like a bock, because it taste like a lager or blonde ale with heavy, yet not bitter farmy, hay-like hops. Essentially no malt sweetness, dry to the extreme, though somehow not too watery, just extremely attenuated. Looking for the bock yeast proves futile, while there is a fair amount of carbonation. As it warms, some light pale malt sweetness is apparent. Lots of graininiess all the while and just no real yeast or malt character which is very important to a bock. Aerated, bubbly texture, very light body and a somewhat vapid mouthfeel overall. Wonder if this was in good shape? 5/3/5/2/8

Draught pint at Redbones on 12/5/06.
Ahh, much improved. Still nothing remotely near a bock (maybe just the very slightest tinge of some lager yeast) but this wasnt overly dry either. Very well balanced and with lots of honey malt and light grassy hops. Smooth texture, medium carbonation. Sessionable, though a bit sweet. 6/3/7/3/12

This was a very hoppy bock with a light citrus orange flavor over it. Pours light orange, very clear, with a smooth white head. Not as malty as most bocks, but just a tough of sweetness up front rounded off by a fruity hop finish.