Gluek Red Bock

Formerly brewed at Cold Spring Brewery
Style: Dunkler Bock
Cold Spring, Minnesota USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Snifter

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Not bad - very drinkable. Big thick foamy head and nice malty sweet aromas that don’t quite deliver solidly in the flavor. It’s like a nice bock that is watered down for drinkability.

River beer! Need beer in a can that is at the least moderately drinkable? This is the one. Cheap and fun while not offensive, far from great, or even good for that matter, but still better than Bud, Miller or Coors!

Wow. This surprised me. Had a light body but a definite roasty character with maybe even a little malt. I don’t want to go too far and say that this beer was good, but it was surprisingly drinkable for a gluek.

I’ve had the Gluek honey bock and enjoyed that but this is something else entirely. It’s a deep amber color with a bit of a lasting head, but no lace. The aroma smells like a nice bock good sweet malt aromas and a little fruitiness. But sadly this is barely drinkable. The beer is has a weird dryness to it with fruity flavors that call to mind a white zinfandel, it is a very different beer in a not so good way, my least favorite gluek.

Canned. The body is light brown and copper. The aroma is sweet blueberries with some sweat and dandelions. The taste has some light notes of caramel with some nasty peanut butter. There is a little bit of fake iced tea taste along with some cheap strawberry candy. Strange and not too bad.

Can, the best part of this one. Brown color with a diminishing beige head, that after a short time is gone. Scents of corn and grains, even a hint of alcohol, how lucky can you get. A malt liquor with a few drops of caramel. Blah.

Its brown. Gluek can’t even get a color right. Smells and tastes like a cheap malt liquor.

Purs a slightly cloudy brown color. Super sweet bicuity toffee nose. Tastes like sweet corn. Ick, but not as bad as some gluek.

UPDATED: DEC 31, 2007 So, many of you raters have driven me to Glueck. I have constantly read that these are really, really not worth the money. Saw a couple of these at my beer store. Was $2 too much? I thought it was but this is the first time I’ve seen them. Which gluecks do I have the pleasure of tasting? Well, looks like the red bock and honey bock, in 12 oz cans none the less. From what I read here, should taste alike. I guess we’ll have a go at the red bock first, sounds best. Nice red can that says royal select on the front. Has a cool drawing of a ram with big horns on it. Pours darkish brown yellow in my new coach steeler stein. Tan thin head that lasts. Odd almost, but not quite, bitter flavor that is like mild hops or malt. Decent carbonation that seems a bit creamy. That odd flavor is about it, something parallel to but not like the Saranac flavor. I wonder if all gluecks have this attribute. Pretty refreshing with a repeatable session beer personality. Much more enjoyable with less after taste when compared to a birra moretti la rosa but not quite the impressive enjoyable personality of a Schells caramel bock. Finish is a touch watery. Not quite as good as a Penn St Nick but this is OK.

Apparently a "sister-beer" to the honey bock. Pours a nice clear copper red, topped by a quarter inch of cream colored foam that has just a touch of red color to it: more beige than pink. Minimal head retention yet somehow decent lacing. How? I don’t know. From a distance, there is this penetrating alcoholic aroma that is almost solvent-like. My boxer mutt (the same one that hated Stite) came walking into the kitchen and quickly tucked tail and slinked away when she caught a whiff. True story. After the fizzing dies down, the aroma is just a mild sweet grain. Thin taste of malt and some kind of artificial fruit. Cherry maybe? On the sweet side at first, then later as I get more used to it (although I will never truly get used to it), it presents a drier cereal grain. Light body, very mild soft carbonation. Nothing at all like a bock. Simply put: macroswill. A couple days and a couple cans later - this stuff flat out hurts me the next day.