100 Beers, 100 Days: Day #8
Straight to the review on tonight’s beer - no introduction. Anchor Bock pours a dark rusty color, almost black or very dark brown. I would have called it black had I not held the glass up to a light and looked through to see a color. The dense head is white and very long lived. I’d say it probably lasted halfway through the glass.
Sticking my nose down in the glass, the first thing I smell is grassy hops, though that only happened on the first one or two sips. Other than that, the predominant aromas are the sweetness of the malt and a faint hint of vanilla. The vanilla smell would come back later in a pretty weird way. The beer itself feels very creamy and thick. “Rich” would be the best word to describe it all around.
The initial flavor is much the same as the aroma - malty sweetness, hints of vanilla, and an overall theme of richness and smoothness. This really is one very smooth beer. Strangely, letting the beer linger for a while makes it start to taste like a root beer float. Sarah took a sample of it first and did not come up with this, but once I told her what to look for she was able to taste it too. I guess that doesn’t really mean anything since I planted the idea in her head. But, the root beer float taste struck me as very unusual. I just had to share it.
As the root beer float taste fades, there’s a very long lasting finish of hops. It’s not the grassy variety this time around, though. It’s too bad I am horrible at picking out specific hops from a glass of beer. Seems like that makes me a bad homebrewer or something. I’m sure if I had a license, the hop people would be coming to take it from me. Finally I got a hint of something roasty or smoky right as the beer fades.
All in all, this is an extremely well made beer. I expect nothing less from Anchor. It is smooth, drinkable, and delicious. The website tells me it checks in at 5.5% ABV, but it feels a little stronger than that. I do love the bock style and while this may not quite fit the style guidelines exactly, it has much of the rich malty flavor that makes it a favorite style of mine. This beer is highly recommended if you can find any of it. I only saw it available as singles on the end cap of a local beer store.