Mardi Gras swiftly approaches, with Lent hot on its heels. In Renaissance Germany this meant the brewing of Bock beer by Roman Catholic monks to sustain them through their 40 days of fasting. High in gravity to provide more food energy than a typical beer, Bocks were drunk in place of meals — a practice that might sound familiar if you’re thinking about Belgium’s Trappist Monks, and their ales. Today, Bocks are generally brewed and drunk as a celebration of the end of Winter, and like those Trappist Ales, the Bock comes in a range of different variants.
Traditional Bock beer is between six and seven percent alcohol by volume, usually coppery in color with a toasted malt profile that is not overwhelmed by hop bitterness. Bocks characteristically display a thick, persistent, creamy, white to off-white head, and a distinct residual sweetness. Shiner Bock, is a fairly decent example.
The Doppelbock is a usually dark beer but sometimes not so dark, it features a wide stylistic range in alcoholic content — sometimes six percent, somtimes ten. It has a strong malt flavor profile, and features little to no hop flavor or aroma. Tröeg’s Tröegenator is a good American example of this style.
Eisbock takes advantage of the different freezing temperatures of water and alcohol to concentrate the flavor and alcohol content of a Bock. Basically, the brewer lowers the temperature of the fermented beer until ice crystals form and are then scooped out of the beer, reducing the volume of water but leaving the unfrozen alcohol behind. ABV ranges from around nine percent to 14 percent. This higher concentration sometimes reduces head retention. (more…)
For about a year now in America, we’ve been able to buy once forbidden fruit — Absinthe — the green liquor of 19th Century legend. So I wondered if the recent legalization of the drink had resulted in a renewal of absinthe culture in this country. I also wondered what the big deal might be. Is it really hallucinogenic, as so many people claim?
Picture it this way: It’s 1934 and America’s failed “Noble Experiment” — Alcohol Prohibition — has been repealed at 4:31 p.m. on December 5, 1933, ending 13 years, 10 months, 19 days, 17 hours and 32.5 minutes of Prohibition. Very suddenly, it has become legal to make, distribute, and drink alcohol again, but after more than a decade, what companies have weathered the financial storm that comes when what they do becomes illegal?