Bock To Life, Bock To Reality

While many of you read this column nursing Fat Tuesday hangovers, it’s the following day that I want to discuss. The day this paper hits the racks is Ash Wednesday, or the first day of Lent, which begins the Christian season leading up to Easter. It’s also March and the beer made for the third month is a family of German favorites – Bock.
Bock is a lager beer of strong flavors, rich amber colors and higher alcohol content than many of the other styles of Germany’s lagers. Malts dominate the flavor, with sweetness to varying degrees, but they offer little or no noticeable hop presence. Alcohol is typical in taste and smell, but blends well with the strong malt content of the beer. Although the color, taste, mouthfeel, and alcohol level may make these beers seem like ales, bocks are bottom-fermenting lagers.
The bock family contains quite a few different varieties, including Maibock, Traditional Bock, Doppelbock, and Eisbock. It’s the doppelbock variety that most closely relates to the Lenten season. While no true ‘Easter beer’ exists, compared with those Christmas ales and fall lagers, it is this big bock that fits the season.
As history has it, stronger beers were typically brewed by monks to sustain them during the fasts and atonement of Lent. This hearty and powerful brew was a ‘liquid bread’ of sorts, and was an even bigger version of the bock lagers that were served during the spring. The style first brewed by the monks of St. Francis of Paula would come to be known as dopplebock.
The original true dopplebock, or double bock, was produced by Paulaner, and known as Salvator, or savior, in honor of the Easter holiday. Today, many German dopplebocks, especially those from Munich, have names ending in -ator: Ayinger’s Celebrator, Tucher’s Bajuvator, Spaten Optimator, Augustiner Maximator, and so on.
While double bocks are not necessarily ‘doubled’ bocks, these lagers will contain a huge amount of malt, noticeable in all aspects of the beer. Colors can range from dark gold to thick and brown. Dopplebocks are rich and full-bodied beers, and will have a definite alcohol presence. In Germany, 7.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) content is the minimum legal strength for a brewery’s dopplebock.
Bocks, especially doppelbocks, are great ‘transition’ beers from winter to spring. Malty, dark and rich, yet they are lager beers, so they will have a certain zing about them that the cold fermented kind of beers do, a carbonation and bite that ales tend to lack.
Still, these lagers will contain a huge amount of malt, noticeable in all aspects of the beer. Hops are rarely perceptible, with sweetness being obvious. Colors are frequently thick and deep ruby or brown. Dopplebocks will have a definite alcohol presence.
Possibly the best classic representation of doppelbock is Ayinger’s Celebrator, a 6.7 percent ABV beer offering molasses flavors over dark fruits, spice and a touch of earthy smoke. Yet, don’t forget the American versions this time of year, as Great Divide’s Wolfgang doppelbock lager is nearly as delicious. American or German, this lager should be in your beer basket. Enjoy the brews … Cheers.
 
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. While they don’t have every beer the Beer Snob writes about, they probably have most. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy. 225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net.