That was our sunroom floor this evening. My wife and I got to begin playing Santa this evening with wrapping gifts, thanks to my in-laws who watched the little kiddos. So, I felt is appropriate to indulge in this bad boy tonight instead of some other brews that I have left in the kegerator fridge.
Sticking with the bock style tonight, this time from Pittsburgh, St. Nikolaus Bock Bier from Penn Brewery. Obviously, this bock beer is a winter seasonal with a name like that. With bottom-fermenting taking place here (lagering), this is slightly stronger than your average lager. This particular one weighs in at a robust 6.5%.
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| "I'll be bock!" Compliments of my Untappd Badge |
No fancy stories tonight. No witty commentary. Just a review tonight...
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| ...and a few fancy pictures too. |
This beer poured a crystal clear, caramel brown color with a pretty thick beige head at the top. It may have been the laser etching on the bottom of my Sam Adams glass, but that's fine with me!
This aroma was strictly malty for me. As it warmed up a bit I got some sweetness from the malt and a slight spruce note as well. The mouth feel threw me for a loop, however. I expected this to have a strong malty backbone to it, but it actually was pretty mild, especially compared to the aroma. The roasted malt and barley flavors were evident here along with a possibility of a small tinge of oatmeal to go compliment the malts. There were some raisin and dark fruit flavors here to wrap things up along with a mild hop bite.
For the style, this beer was rather light in body, but was definitely full of flavor and complexity. Not at all what I expected, but in a good way!
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| Santa agrees! 3.5 out of 5 for this bock beer! |
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