Rating:

“The flagship of our Special Reserve Series, Devil’s Advocate is a full bodied Eisbock with notes of honey and dried fruit and a complex palate of apricot, chocolate and sherry. Aged on oak to lend a smooth smokey finish. Enjoy with rich food, dark chocolate, strong cheese or on its own by a warm fire with special friends. Will improve with careful cool cellaring for two or more years.”

As the description states, this Eisbock can be cellared, albeit carefully, for up to two years. We almost got there as this was bottled in 2014 but the weather here in Sydney is starting to really warm up so we thought we’d get stuck in now. We pulled it out of the fridge to let it come up to just below room temperature before serving it in to a snifter glass. The dark cola pour is capped off by a two finger tan head that steadily deconstructs and settles to a foamy halo around the circumference of the glass. Lacing is scarce but reasonable. As we expected, the nose is rich and extremely complex. Dense wafts of fruit cake, dates, dark chocolate, Galliano, alcohol, cherry ripe, caramelised pear and Barleywine-like residual sugars are mind blowingly moreish and just down right potent! It smells like a top shelf Quadrupel. Wow. The texture is thick and viscous with a heavy weight behind it. Carbonation is low and the body is full. Absolutely choc-a-bloc full of dark malts and an unctuous molassesy density. Upfront it’s astringent, almost medicinal with it’s molasses-like complexity. The alcohol (11% ABV) is somehow drowned out by the dark chocolatey, caramelised fruity sweetness that can best be described as Christmas cake. Hints of rich toffee and caramel carry it all forward and lead in to a seriously rich and lethal finish full of alcohol warmth, liqueur, dates and port. Friends, try at your own risk. This is extremely hefty and fearsome, but absolutely divine if you dig your dark, heavy beers. We can’t help but wish we had a cuban cigar and a big roaring wood fire to complete this situation. Not much we can do about that, but we can just sit back and bask in this remarkably complex brew. What a way to kick off proceedings with this brewery eh?! Brilliant drop.

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“This beer is inspired by the Brooklyner -Schneider Weisse brewed in collaboration by two titans of beer: Hans Peter Drexler and Garrett Oliver . She wants to be a nod to two men known for their iron fist and their keen sense of humor, a former Prime Minister shawiniganaise original and the other former coach in the National League , as well as ‘in an affectionate appellation now made famous . Lovers of weizen and American IPA will be embraced happiness before this joyful hybrid.”

Our 3rd entry in about as many weeks for this French-Canadian brewery. We’d have to give full points for this fantastic artwork on their strip too. Very characteristic. We served this weizen bock in to a beer tulip. The pour provides us with a slightly hazy straw-golden appearance that knocks up a fluffy 3 finger head that retains tremendously well. Laced healthily, leaving thick patches of foam behind. The nose presents itself predominantly as a German weizen/Witbier. We get strong wafts of spice (clove, nutmeg, pepper) banana bread, soft candi sugars, apricot, wheat malts, minerals and bubblegum. We are certainly getting the weizen but we aren’t getting much of the bock. Take nothing away from it though, it’s a solid aroma. In the mouth it’s full and extremely frothy with high carbonation levels. We know it sounds strange but it’s actually quite light on and palate-friendly. An explosion of bubbles on the tongue gets us underway as light spices blend with hints of banana, wheat and hay upfront. A firm alcohol warmth (6.5%) hits the back of the tongue as the initial flavours move through the mid and take on a sort of Gose-like saltiness. The finish is mild spicy and yeasty with some lingering flavours of hay and marshmallow on the back palate. We’ll be honest and say that we don’t have a lot of experience with weizenbocks but this brew is pretty damn good. The only fault we can uncover is that there is hardly any bock character in here at all. We love the emphasis on the big, wheaty aroma and flavours, although we were banking on a rich, dark lagery component that was missing in action. Hey, that’s probably what the brewers were after, we don’t know. Either way it was an enjoyable beer.

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We love a beer with a bit of rich history. Especially when that history was made in our own back yard. Balmain (the suburb in Sydney where this beer is brewed) is a quaint and trendy little area with plenty of traditional old pubs, once in the mid 1980’s, home to this brewery where this bock was the go to beer for the locals and keen beer drinkers alike to “knock a few back”.

Served in a shaker glass the opaque dark brown pour reveals deep ruby edges when held to the light. Capping it off was a 1 finger tan head that reduced to a thin film that allows for some mild lace trails. Our first thoughts of the aroma are heavily malt driven with a delicate berry sweetness. Firm chocolate overtones are backed up by hints of coffee, cocoa, nutmeg, cherry and toast. Maybe an underlying touch of peat in here too. Nice. In the mouth it’s silky smooth with low carbonation. Moderately bodied. The taste is quite similar to the nose with a solid malty front palate. Chocolate and light hints of dark fruits and spice are followed by a subtle smokiness through the mid. The finish is light and dry with a roasty back end which lingers nicely. Good duration on the tongue. 5.5% ABV. Pretty good bock here, and to be honest between this, the pilsner and the pale ale this would have to be their best. Decent drop.

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“After a friendship that spans two decades, Deschute’s Brewery and Germany’s Distelhauser decided to collaborate on this unique brew, dubbed Doppel Dinkel Bock, which deftly balances the malt profile from Germany with the hop qualities of the Pacific Northwest.”

We served this in a weizen glass. The light copper pour produced about one and a half fingers worth of beige foam that eventually settles to a halo around the edge of the glass. OK lacing. What’s really cool about this beer is the usual wheat malt that is normally used in Bock’s has been substituted for Spelt which is emanating lovely wafts of hazelnut, biscuit, grain, dough, raisin, malty-sweet, toffee, pepper and marmalade. A decent whiff of alcohol pushes in and adds an extra dimension to this already solid aroma. The mouth feel is thick and creamy with mild-medium carbonation. Medium-full body. Rich flavours of toffee, caramelised banana and alcohol (10.7% ABV) work it’s way forward into a spicy mid-palate, accentuated again by a slight alcohol warming. Some earthy and sweet toffee malts carry forward and deliver a nutty finish with a plethora of lingering flavours on the back palate. Booze, banana lollies, spice and raisin sit on the tongue for an eternity displaying amazing duration. Thick, sticky, viscous and rich. What we have here is a unique, and essentially, top notch beer. We are basking in these complex, caramelised flavours. Big ups, this is an excellent Doppelbock.

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“ABSTRAKT ARE DIRECTIONAL, BOUNDARY PUSHING BEERS. Blurring distinctions between beer and art, transcending categories and exciting imaginations. We release only a very small number of limited edition batches of Abstrakt per year, each batch known only by its release code. They are designed to be aged, collected and savoured with artistic elegance and aristocratic nonchalance.”

Well this is a first for us, we can honestly say we’ve never had an imperial weizen bock. So here goes, served in a tulip glass the murky brown pour produced a compacted white head that quickly diminished leaving streaky lacing to run down the glass. Immediately after the pour a really subtle sweetness emanates with overtones of pear, banana, wheat malts and a hint of sherry. Mild bready hints of sour dough and a rich, syrupy hint of raisin and booze finish off a pretty impressive aroma boasting good depth and complexity. The mouth feel is smooth with a chewy texture. Mild-medium carbonation with full body. Upon the palate, initial flavours of sweet, viscous caramel, booze and dark fruits tantalize the taste buds. Emerging from the mid-palate is again, a sweet and slightly astringent hint of sherry which delivers a subtle boozy finish with hints of banana and burnt sugar that carries well on to the back end. Excellent length. Considering the high ABV (10.2%) and the array of rich, complex flavours this beer is actually highly palatable. A really top notch craft offering. Big ups to the Scots for this beauty, we loved it!

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“Put a Pale Whale in a pinot barrel for 9 months, stick a Monkey on it’s back, run a Dark Horse past it and then give it a good kick with an Ass. Bringing back the flavours of our forebears. A funky barrel aged semi sour – tasty as!”

Strange one here folks, it’s described by the brewers as an Eisbock (which is a style we’ve never tried before) so we’ll see how we go by the end of the review. Served in a shaker glass the mahogany brown pour shows deep tawny red highlights when held against the light. Crowning it off sits a big, fizzy 3 finger beige head which retains really well leaving thick bubbly lacing clinging to our glass. Onto the aroma. Now this is where we were thrown off, initially we picked up a complex funky sourness. A slightly musty/earthy characteristic is spruced up by a citric splash of lime juice together with hints of oriental-style spice and caramel malts, that add much needed balance to a very loose and erratic aroma. The mouth feel is quite frothy with medium carbonation. Following on from the aroma, the flavour profile also packs a lot of funky/bretty sourness, though the sweet malt presence is brought up to balance it out. Soft bitterness from the hops plus a hint of dried fruits, clove and a very faint warming from the ABV (7.2%) rounds it off. In parts they have it right, maybe we don’t know enough about Eisbock’s but for us it was more like a sour or a wild ale. Just too funky and muddled up for us.

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“A smooth, rich beer with a powerful aroma and fiery red hue that comes from the crafting of four premium malts, in true Bavarian style. Now available all year round.”

This doppelbock would have to be Monteith’s best core range beer by far. We’ve been lucky enough to try this on tap in both NZ and here in Sydney and from what we remember it is rich, malty and chocolatey. Ok enough talking about it, lets indulge. Served in to a shaker glass. This beers cola-like pour constructs a modest fingers worth of cappuccino foam which steadily reduces to a collar. A couple of small patches of lace are clinging to the glass, but that’s about it. Certainly smelling just as good out of the bottle as it does on tap, those big doughy aromas catch our olfactory’s initially, almost reminds us of play doh. Definitely malt driven on the nose, a firm presence of chocolate, cocoa and rum & raisin are blended nicely into a slight suggestion of ripe cherries and currants. Very pleasant aroma. In the mouth it’s nice and thick with this full bodied viscosity. Quite a creamy texture with mild Co2 levels. Almost sludgy. The flavour pretty much follows on from the nose with rich, dark malts and chocolate with a soft roasted component. The mid develops a sort of stickiness to it with hints of toffee and raisin that deliver a soft roasted finish that provides a subtle alcohol warmth (6% ABV) on the rear palate. Yep, just as we remember it. Really good consistency throughout, you just know this is the perfect accompaniment to a big roaring fire or a big grilled steak. Very enjoyable beer on this cold winters night. Spot on.

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“After fermentation, for just a little while, this dark lager wore an itsy bitsy teeny weenie brown shrivelled chipotle bikini. It (sm)oaked up the hotness (as much as it could given it was a little chili). And when it was done it took it off….wahhhh!! Seriously hot stuff!.”

We would both be surprisingly mistaken if we thought we had just cracked open a porter here. As we served this dark beauty in to a beer tulip we gaze upon this dark cola-like pour and compacted tan head coupled with some robust porter-like aroma’s, one would be surprised to know that this is actually a bock. Wafts of sweet malts, dark chocolate, raisin, woody notes, peppers, charcoal and plum are enough to excite the best of beer critiques. Medium carbonation with a slightly velvety texture in the mouth. The palate boasts robust, roasted and slightly smoky characteristics. Caramel, toffee, peated malts, pepper and the slight heat from the chipotle marry together beautifully to produce an absolutely brilliant bock. Slight booze warming (7.7%) throughout adds even more complexity to this already top notch beer. Big ups to this quality Victorian brewery. Well done, another quirky but delicious beer to add to the repertoire.

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“Inspired by the famous and delicious Mexican dish “molè”. A rich caramelly (not dark) malt base overlaid by a combination of cocoa and other spices including chillies. Aromatic, spicy and warming. Olé!”

This is a strange one. From brew moon in nz, it’s a take on the Mexican dish ‘Mole’. It uses 3 different types of chilli to flavour and it certainly shows up. Served in a shaker glass the murky light brown/dark copper pour generates about a finger of tightly held foam which peels off hastily and settles to a thin film over the top. Laced poorly. The aroma of the beer is unusual..we get a solid fleshy waft of chili, peppery spice and a pleasant touch of cocoa initially. Soft caramel malt backbone that’s quite restrained but does creep through. There is high carbonation levels that provide a frothy texture in the mouth. The lingering initial sip is all chilli heat and peppery spice but it’s eventually smoothed out on the back of the throat with some light suggestions of cocoa powder and mild caramel malts. Unfortunately this is all that happens in flavour, no real depth here at all. In saying that, we were kind of into it but it was off-putting by the time we finished. Too unbalanced. If you dig Mexican food then this would tempt you purely out of interest, it just didn’t win us over.

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“A collaboration between Mountain Goat Brewery and the Brooklyn brewery. The resulting beer is now out and is a Hopfweizenbock, AKA a hoppy, strong wheat beer. It’s a beer style brewed by Brooklyn in the States and this version uses the exact same yeast (from the world’s oldest existing brewery, Weihenstephan) and exact same grain bill as the US beer. Where it differs is in the use of Melbourne water and, more importantly, Aussie hops. A tonne (not literally) of Tassie Galaxy hops were added to the conditioning tanks – two grams per litre, according to Goat, to give the beer a distinctive Aussie twist. That said, the tropical fruit aromas from the Galaxy don’t have it all their own way, with the Weihenstephan yeast throwing up plenty of banana and bubblegum esters too. In fact, the hops come to the fore as much in the mouth, adding a slightly resiny, fruity kick to the full-bodied, malty, slightly spicy beer.”

Mountain Goat pair up with the boys from Brooklyn brewery for this new release under the ‘cross breed’ series. Served in a weizen glass it’s pouring a gorgeous tawny-copper brown with a thin off white head over the top. Reasonable head retention which leaves some random patches of lace clinging to our glass. The aroma is very unique, almost Belgian-like consisting of pear, bubblegum, clove, banana, coriander, vanilla and spice. Strangely pleasant. The mouth feel is smooth with medium carbonation levels. Plenty of banana, yeast, spice and malt sweetness throughout but what is interesting is this slight hop bitterness on the palate that cuts through to balance out the rich, spicy flavours. Quite a nice tropical fruit profile in here too. Very unique beer, definitely not a sessional drop and probably not to many beer drinkers liking but by saying that it was certainly quaffable. The 6.5% ABV was well hidden. It’s an interesting beer we’ll say that but it didn’t really win us over completely.

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“Celebrator has a creamy head of tight bubbles contrasting beautifully with its profound dark robe. It is full-bodied and velvety from half a year’s aging. Although it is strong, it is not overpowering. There is a wonderful and complex balance between the various malts, the alcohol and the subtle hops. A complex fruitiness of roasted malt and whole hop flowers make Celebrator great as a party drink with friends and family at celebrations. Despite its richness, it has a faintly smoky dryness in the finish.”

This is the epitome of doppelbock’s. Pouring a dark copper mahogany with a thickish cream head. Leaves good lacing. Aroma is what you want to be smelling from a bock. Packed full of rich roasted biscuit malts, caramel, toffee, nuts and dates. good balance between the richness and the booze (6.7%).Flavour is smooth and doughy with caramel, dark fruits, nuts and a slight hop bitterness on the back end. Lovely. A bit too rich and flavoursome to be sessional but an impeccable bock. Great for sipping

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Dead guy ale…quite a strange one to name a beer after but this German Maierbock got it’s name from being nothing more than a tap sticker without a beer in conjunction with it, until it became popular among the revelers at the Casa U Betcha festival (celebration of the Mayan day of the dead) in Portland, Oregon.

Served in a shaker glass the attractive hazy amber pour generates a steady 1 finger head that casually simmers down to a fine layer on top. Reasonable lacing. The aroma is a little restrained but what we like about it is the balance between the fruity/piney hops and the toasty malts. We detect a subtle sweetness too, maybe stone fruits – in particular either peach or apricot, maybe both. Light caramel, honey and a hint of spice in the background as well. Very delicate aroma. In the mouth it’s really smooth with average carbonation. The body is mild-medium and very light on the tongue. Quite sessional actually, which is pretty impressive considering the ABV is 6.5%. There is a slight alcohol warming initially but the sweet caramel and honey notes tone it down. Some subtle malt sweetness through the mid is rounded off by a fruity finish with a gentle dryness on the rear-palate. Length is OK, nothing spectacular. Very approachable beer, everything about it is mild, light and sessional. Another decent offering from Rogue.

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“Our brewing history begins with this beer. And the history of strong beer in Bavaria – it was the Paulaner monks, who invented this bottom-fermenting double bock. We have been brewing the Salvator for over 375 years – always according to the original recipe, which was continuously refined over the years: The head is the colour of caramel and the beer is chestnut brown, combined with a seductive flavour of chocolate to give a pleasing intensity on the palate. Hereto comes the finest Munich malt, rounded off by a light note of hops in the background. Often imitated but never duplicated: The father of all double bock beers, of which the names always end in “-ator”!”

Served in a dimpled mug. Quite an attractive beer, the appearance offers a mahogany hue with a dense, tanned head that sits just short of two fingers in height. The head eventually reduced down to a fine layer with wet, streaky lacing omitted on the glass. Very yeasty on the nose with a dominant scent of banana bread. Some rich malt sweetness, toffee, caramel, cookie dough, fig and pumpernickel are also coming through. Very unique aroma and to be honest we are liking it. The mouth feel is a little thin with a slghtly oily texture. Carbonation levels are mild and the body is mild-medium. We certainly get rich malt sweetness on the front palate. A hint of toffee develops as a restrained alcohol warmth bridges on to the mid. The malt sweetness carries through and leads to the sweet, boozy finish with hints of fig and raisin on the back end. The 7.9% ABV does like the palate to know it’s around but it’s not bullish about it. Look, it’s definitely a nice beer in complexity but the cloying sweetness really limits us to one and one only. Not bad.