Schell Caramel Bock

Brewed by August Schell Brewing Company
Style: Dunkler Bock
New Ulm, Minnesota USA

Good aroma and appearance. Initial flavors are roasted malts and sweetness. Too bad it’s completely flat, lacking carbonation and somewhat watery as well.

Well, this isn’t my favorite of Schell’s, but they can’t all be the best now can they? This beer has a moderate head that stays on the whole way down. This beer has a nice nutty or earthy flavor to it, but not so much to really challenge you. The caramel sweetness really saves this beer from being lackluster. There is a point during the drinking process where it seems a little watery - not what you expect from a bock. That would be the reason for the lower rating. All in all worth a try, but look to Schell’s Pale Ale or Zommerfest for some real keepers!

Rerate: A dark reddish brown pour with a creamy head. Nice caramel flavor with a slightly metallic aftertaste. Initial flavor was pretty decent. Finish is where this is lacking. Rating unchanged.

Initial Rating: Pours with good head and a dark brown color. Nutty flavor. Not too bad, but nothing super impressive either. One of Schell’s better beers, although IMO not as good as Firebrick or Maifest. Finish is dry and mostly malty. Initial rating: 3.4

Expectations haberdasherly inexplicably done in the time of the old man who is abandoned, lost on the shoreline, sequestered in the room, nothing shines.
Earlier Rating: 2/13/2004 Total Score: 3.3
Okay for what it is, which is a typical Wisconsin bock in the league of Huber and other minor breweries. Certainly a pretty label and nothing to complain about the head appearance or the clinging lace or the color and look of the beer. But beyond that, it's a bit of a disappointment. It's lighter in body than I like in a bock and doesn't knock me to the ground with flavor or aroma. What's there suggests a very light caramel and very light malt with muted hops. The feel is a little fizzier than I like, too. I followed this with the brewery's Schmaltz's Alt, which made the Bock pale even more, in comparison. The Schmaltz's, from a sixer that's probably at least a year old, was sweet and almost syrupy with an underlying smoked wood flavor, creamy without fizziness, excellent foamy head, beautiful ruby-brown color. I've never tasted a better American alt than the old Schmaltz's--it comes very close to authentic German styles in the Koblenz area. Why Schell chose to retire the alt in favor of pushing its lesser Bock styles is beyond me.

Pours darn near flat, no lace to speak of. Clear copper/amber hued brew. Faint malt nose with a hint of caramel. Body is thin and light, watery. Delicate caramel flavors along with a strange sourness thats backed by a lightly toasty maltiness. Finish is rather dry and quick. Thanks Stephen.

Roasted malt aroma. Clear dark brown. Not much lace. Mouthfeel is flat. May have been the first brew off the tapper of the evening at the Choo Choo Bar in Loretto, MN. Decent cookie finish. Malty. Tastes relatively high in alcohol for only 5.8%.
Earlier Rating: 2/12/2003 Total Score: 2.9
Aroma is a bit off...kind of like an armpit. Malty. Not bad, not good. Basic. Average.

Light brown pour with a fizzy/bubbly white head. Light caramel malt, bready flavors. Boring and undemanding. Slightly syrupy, watery palate. I like schell but I can’t understand why they made this the year round offering, and pushed poor schmaltz into the background. This beer should be the winter seasonal. Well...this is the end of my gripe.

Not much carbonation out of the bottle. I’m thinking 2 row malts equals light malts. Caramel aroma and slightly in the flavor. Easy drinking, smooth and unfortunately not much bock-like qualities.