For today’s craft beer review I’m going to be trying the Anchor Bock Beer produced by the Anchor Brewing Company located in San Francisco, California.

I have always appreciated and enjoyed anything I get from Anchor, plus I respect the brewery for being one of the forefathers of the modern day craft brewing scene.

Here’s the description of the Anchor Bock Beer from the website anchorbrewing.com.
 
The dark satiny texture of Anchor Bock®, with its rich hints of chocolate, caramel and roasted barley, is our interpretation of the strong German beers that signal the coming of spring.

Anchor Bock® Beer is brewed from a complex blend of malts, and fresh, whole-cone hops. In the ancient bock tradition, the dark-colored brew is released in time for springtime celebrations. Bock beers are believed to have originated in the town of Einbeck, Germany and traditionally feature a goat on their labels. The term, “bock” occurs in several Germanic languages and roughly translates to “billy goat”, but there are some unlikely alternatives. Followers of the zodiac have described it as a beer for Capricorn, the time when, as the days grow longer, brewers brew their bock beers in anticipation of the coming of spring.

Over time, bock has come to mean a beer darker and stronger than a brewery’s “regular” brew. One with, you might say, the kick of a goat behind it.

Let’s get this beer in a glass and see how it is.

This brew came in a 12 oz. bottle and has an ABV of 5.5%.

The beer poured a very nice, dark, mahogany to brown color.  Some ruby highlights were piercing through around the edges and the bottom of the glass.  The head was light tan in color and was very smooth and creamy in texture.  The head was very full with some great retention and some pretty darn good lacing.

The aroma provided some buttermilk notes along with tiny hints of lard and dark fruit.  It was rather robust, rich and malty.  I think I may have been getting a few fragrances of chocolate and some nuttiness also.  It began to smell rather sweet as it warmed a bit.  It had an earthy hop presence that fit in nicely with the malts.

The taste provided a tad more of the dark fruits combined with the aforementioned chocolate.  A smidgen of cocoa powder was noticed too.  It was relatively low on the hop bitterness, but the earthiness remained.  This Bock seemed very well balanced and somewhat toasty with further tones of nuttiness, dark grains and a slight bit of caramel.  The lard that was noticed in the bouquet was nowhere to be found in the taste and that was fine by me.

The mouthfeel was medium bodied, super smooth and dry.  It glides across the palate like an oil slick.  It covered the throat and tongue completely and evenly.  Nice.

I’ll tell ya.  I’m not a huge fan of the Bock style, however I found this one to be very, very good.  It may not be the best Bock on the market, but of the one’s that I’ve tried thus far, it’s probably my favorite.  It’s very easy to drink and very well balanced in all aspects.  I would have no problem having the Anchor Bock Beer on a regular basis.  Quite sessionable and worth a try in my opinion.  Give it a go if you have not done so.

Have you guys ever tried this beer????

Thanks for reading and commenting guys.  I hope all is well.  Until next time.

Cheers.

Score:  4.05 out of 5
Grade:  A-