River Horse Roebling Bock

Sweet, yeasty and fruity aroma with some bready and caramel malt character. Opaque golden body with a low white head that recedes to ring. Sweet and fruity flavour is mildly bitter with some cakelike yeast. Medium body with somewhat low carbonation. Bottle sampled at the Country Inn with beerbuzzmontreal, MartinT, Rastacouere and Yowie.

Pours a cloudy golden color with a ring of white lace. Aroma of malt, fruits and yeast. The flavor feels a bit off with a package of fruits and yeast. The body is light with a creamy texture and soft carbonation.

The Lure:
Fruity esters and wheaty cereals personify a Belgian origin. Soft caramel and honey sweetness benefits from some orange pith to diversify its reach. Interesting, but definitely not what is expected from the style designation.

The Festivities:
Rich caramel and honey combine to coat the phenolic haystack. Their slick sweetness works well with the pears and other fruity esters of the apparently Belgian yeast. Few hops can be detected, and raw grain keeps things fresh. Good, but I thought I had ordered a bock?

Transcendence:
Clothing can mask true natures easily.

Hazy pale gold appearance, almost no head. Tartish sourdough and cerealic bready and floral nose. Banana touched doughiness is tamed by bandagey phenols and a beginning of cardboardy oxidation. Medium bodied, watery mouthfeel, rather sweet. Not very exciting.

On tap at Porterhouse Brewpub. Yellow color. Mostly clean aroma. Clean and crisp with some hops in the finish. Nice beer.

On tap at the Porterhouse Brewpub (owned by River Horse) in Lahaska, PA. 8% abv and known as Spring Bock. Yellow, slight lasting head. Aroma is mostly clean, but a touch of cooked corn is noticed. Malty clean and crisp, with a touch of hops in the finish. Strong but easy to drink.

Same lame labels from this brewery - when will they realize that using a home inkjet printer for their beer labels just won't cut it? As for the brew, the aroma is sweet, yeasty and just plain terrific. I enjoyed the malt flavor, but the alcohol could have been more well-hidden. Overall, a decent effort and I'm glad to see them try to brew a challenging style.

Hazy golden body with small off-white head. Aroma is fairly light, apple and light straw. Taste is pretty sweet, though not cloying, basically apple and caramel, with a hint of alcohol. Minimal bitterness, and fairly light body. Quite guzzle-able.