Klosterbräu Bock
Brewery: Klosterbräu
Town: Bamberg
Style: Bock
Color: deep golden to light amber
Head: off-white, creamy
Nose: malty, fruity (perhaps some pear)
Body: medium
Palate: richly malty, fruity
Finish: lingering, semi-dry
Served: on tap at the brewery
Impression: I’ve had a bad relationship with this Hellerbock due to the brewery no longer brewing one of my favorite Bocks: their Schwärzlabock. I’ve had this typical Hellerbock in a bottle and found it underwhelming. I also had a fizzy pour on tap a couple of years ago but must say this one looks great with an ample creamy head. There’s fruit in both the nose and palate and it’s dry enough to avoid it being overly cloying. While it can’t compare to the far more complex dark beauty of yore, it’s better than many Hellerbocks flooding what I feel is an over-saturated market. I’d like more hops, something lacking in most in this vein, but overall it’s a good example of the style. At 7%, it could be a tad more complex and I’d rather see Bocks like this closer to 6.5%.
