Yuengling Bock Beer

Brewed by Yuengling Brewery
Style: Dunkler Bock
Pottsville, Pennsylvania USA

On tap at the Colonial Downs Rhythm, Bets and Brews Festival on 06/20/2009 as Yuengling Spring Bock. Clear copper amber body with a medium creamy off-white head. Sweet toasty and caramel aroma. Caramel, and grainy flavor with light fruity and grassy notes. Medium light body with moderately high carbonation.

Growler from Half-Time. Pours a clear caramel brown with a thin beige head that falls to nothing quite fast. Big sweet caramel notes with just a little graininess underneath. Thin to medium bodied, still a little sweet. Ends with a big grainy finish. Better than I’d expected, but still not amazing.

Pours a deep, dark brown color with a decent tan head. Hoppy aroma to go along with some malt. Light, bitterness in the flavor, with a mix of malt and hops. Dry finish. Decent beer.

On tap at the Icehouse in Punta Gorda, FL. Clear brown pour with a nice off white head. I was surprised by the hop aroma, very nice for a non-micro. Good flavor, malty and a nice bitter finish. Lighter than it looks, easy drinking. I really enjoyed this one.

On tap at Buffalo Wild Wings while out to a special dinner with my eldest offspring. Dark hickory pour with white frothy head which actually left some nice lacing. The flavor was a bit watery and not the strongest flavor beer I’ve ever had. There was a distinct bitterness in this one to give it a bit of character. I only had it because I haven’t seen it in bottles yet, so I figured this was my chance to try it. I don’t feel a particularly strong need to go back.

Was really disappointed in this one. Had on draft. Pour was really carbonated, almost looking like I had been brought a Dr. Pepper or something when I got it. Brown beer with a reddish tint to it. Nothing really impressive in either smell or taste.

Sampled from a tap at the Fox and Hound. I was actually kind of excited to see that Yuengling was offering something different from their standard line, although their Porter is well-made and a nice value for the dollar. Unfortunately, this was so disappointing as to be almost ridiculous. First, the color is nowhere near "bock territory." It actually looked almost just like Yuengling Lager. I actually started to think that the tap had been mislabeled when I smelled and sampled the beer. I got hops in the nose and on the palate, which actually made me laugh, as bock might be the ultimate malt-forward beer. Worse, there wasn’t even a trace of munich malt, which usually makes up at least 20% of the grist of this style. Overall, it essentially smells and tastes like the Yuengling brewers simply added a bit of brown food color to the Lager and put it out as a bock. Pathetic.

Draft. Decent neer. A brown body with a light tan head that had good retention. Aroma had good malt notes mostly caramel but some bread like notes and dried fruits. Flavor seemed to have more of a fruity note to it but still all malts. Nice smooth palate. Good beer.