A tale of two bocks

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 11:32 am

So there we were at Volo's tonight. Opened with a round of Denison's Weisse naturally. The carbonara was in fine form along with the new (for her) pasta dish the girlfriend had. The second round was as the subject line names, two bocks. Hers the Mill St. Helles Bock and mine the Niagara Eisbock.

We both agreed that while the Helles Bock wasn't horrid there was something unpleasant about it. A fairly sharp taste which I couldn't place. It's not exactly an easy drinking brew. Having tasted now nearly all available Mill St. beers in the past year I'd say my favourites still are the Organic lager and Stock ale.

The Niagara Eisbock however was much more pleasant and tasty. It was much smoother than the Helles with none of that sharpness. We'd both have this again.

I had thought about giving the Nutcracker another try but time was short. The Leaf game was on and I had some work I had to do. Maybe next time...

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 12:52 pm

I had two fresh samples of the MS Helles Bock, the first put me off a littlle but the next time it was reslly good.

Maybe it was me. Sometimes the hop balance of a beer throws me a little.

tupalev · Post by **tupalev** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 3:53 pm

I really enjoyed the Helles Bock last year; I am looking forward to trying it again this year (I wanted to at Volo, it is on tap, but the Nutcracker and the casks of Hop Bomb and Capt. Cascade got in the way - now that's a line up!). Lots of flavour in there for sure but I like the challenge, and it does bring something unique to the style and our local selection.

And you just listed my two least favourite Mill St. Beers by far

Having sampled the Eisbock every year since about '98, I found this year's to be rather thin and disappointing. Still a decent brew, but just very simple. I'm not sure it is even worth aging, as I have done with some of the older ones (to varying results). But it is quite quaffable, especially on tap on a cold winter night.

I have not looked at it yet in stores, but I heard they broke the tradition this year of using a nice piece of art on the label?

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:12 pm

I liked the MS helles bock last year...bought a case to consume over the year...had my last one about 6 weeks before I sampled a fresh taste of the new H-bock ...seemed to be the same flavor profile as last year...possibly a wee bit sharper than I remember.

This years NF Eisbock seemed less complex and a tad thinned out from the previous years. Easy to drink though...better than other years when they were fresh.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:50 pm

I find the Eisbock overrated, it's good but there's just better bocks for me! It is a nice bit of Canadian history, I admit.

I still have some of that amazing Weltenburger Asam-Bock (a Doppel) which seems impervious to lengthy storage. THAT is worth the bucks! Even Paulaner is solid. German beer labels are a bit stoic in appearance, though. I hope we see Asam-Bock again.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:48 pm

Belgian wrote:
I still have some of that amazing Weltenburger Asam-Bock (a Doppel) which seems impervious to lengthy storage. THAT is worth the bucks! Even Paulaner is solid. German beer labels are a bit stoic in appearance, though. I hope we see Asam-Bock again.

Yep I nailed a case of that Kloster bock from the last source...dyno Bock as well as Schneider Aventinus..plus I have some Spaten Oktoberfest, some Quebec Micro marzen and a case of German Edelhell this holiday, it's shaping up to be a teutonic Xmas.