Maisel Chocolate Bock
Brewery: Maisel Gebrüder
Town: Bayreuth
Style: Bock/Irish Stout
Color: unfiltered, almost black, ruby highlights
Head: tan, rocky
Nose: cocoa, dark chocolate, hint of licorice
Body: full
Palate: cocoa, dark chocolate, dry
Finish: long, semi-dry, bittersweet
Served: from a bottle bought in Munich
Impression: I’d seen this beer at my local supermarket for a few months and had certainly heard of it. I hadn’t given much thought to picking it up despite its fair price of €4.99 for .75L. With our lockdown lingering on for months, it seemed as good a time as any to break down and give it a go. It poured about as pretty as any beer with an opaque darkness and gorgeously dense tan head. There was plenty of chocolate in the nose. I feared it being sweet as it was a Bock of 7.5% but on the label, it purports to be their interpretation of an Irish Stout so tried to keep an open mind. It sure looked more like a stout and must say, it was quite a bit drier than it smelled and in no way was sweet. There seemed to be both cocoa and dark chocolate intermingling and while no hops were obvious, the beer’s dryness shows their presence. The body is a lot lighter than it looks and to be fair, an Irish Stout isn’t really a heavy beer as much as people who don’t drink them will tell you they are. It is bottom fermented so not really a stout, hence its Bock moniker. This beer went very well with a light creamy blue cheese as well as various berries. My wife loved it. Needless to say, I’ll not hesitate to buy this again.
Next beer or back to the beer list.
I always wondered how a bock compares to a stout to a porter (other than the basic lager – ale yeast thing)
I guess styles are meant to be broken. One rule aside from the yeast is stouts and porters are dark whereas Bocks can be any color. I think Bock is one of the most diverse styles without adding any flavors to it.
my next homebrew attempt is going to be a doppelbock – we’ll see how it goes