Grand River Dogstalker April Bock

Brewed by Grand River Brewing
Style: Heller Bock
Cambridge, Canada

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Stein

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Bottle 500 ml
Aroma mild, malty , smooth aroma, alcohol well hidden. 7-
Appearance clear amber with medium top.
Flavor and Palate : medium bodied. Bit thin for Bock. Good balance of malt/hops that made this beer dangerously drinkable. Hints of caramel, alcohol clan and well refined. Maybe not exactly to style but neat brew either way.

UPDATED: APR 26, 2012 500mL bottle from brewery. Pours clear light brown. Pleasant fruit punch aroma. Bready and biscuity malts and fruity English (or German?) hops... really tastes more like an English ale or an Altbier to me than a Bock. A surprising, but welcome, mildy bitter finish. Another good one from GRB.

500mL bottle from the brewery. Pours a goldish copper, clear with a small white head. Aroma is classic GRB, grainy biscuit malts, with a hint of herbal hops. Flavour has the standard hard GRB water, thick pale malts, mild booze, all with a thick mouth-feel. It’s like the Hennenberg Pils on steroids. Sweet but not cloyingly. I’m usually not really into Heller Bocks, even though I enjoy bocks probably more than most others, but this one is really damn good. It probably helps that my bottles are super fresh, but honestly I feel like it would get better after spending some time sitting. Very well done, everything works well together. A winner from GRB.

Sampled at the brewery: taps a roily, hazed burnished copper color. Smallish but frothy lasting cap. Aromas of rich toasty sweet malts over a musty eartyness,,,really great nose. Full bodied, full flavored... fat malts and twiggy noble hops... rich satisfying bready-toasty bock. Wish they’d make this unfiltered version available all year.

Pour from brewery. Pour caramel murky brownish. Aroma sweet, caramel, slight hop, malt. Taste caramel, mild hops, bread, toffee, sweet malt, and GRB water taste. MF a little thin but very nice on palate it works. Overall tasty brew

On tap at brewery. Pours slightly hazy and light brown in colour. Malty aroma and taste, nice sweet german malts. Not much hop. Very drinkable bock!

Many, many pints at Chancey Smith’s in London, Ontario- I’ll start off by saying that I really don’t like bocks all that much, at least as a rule. This one was an exception. Put a hazed copper into the glass, with a frothy beige cap. Nose of spices, mineral, fresh hops, dark bread, toast. Tastes sweet, of caramel and butterscotch, with lots of mineral and metallic like hops. Bready, like dark rye. Toasty and slightly astringent on the finish. Deadly drinkable for the strength. These guys don’t make a bad beer!

On tap at the Golden Kiwi, Cambridge. Pours a murky brown (it’s unfiltered) with a small head. Aroma is is bready malts. Flavour is rich, malty, and great mouthfeel. Lots of body. Very nice beer. Hopefully, they make a full batch of it sometime.

They brewed this on their pilot system for their bock tasting (a 100 L system from a brew-on-premise). Unfiltered, but well-carbonated, a bit like a keller. A: Very hazy (yeast hadn’t settled), amber-brown with an off white head, thin ring of retention, light lacing. S: Very malt-forward, toffee, bread, caramel, hints of dark fruit and a touch of noble spicing (very floral). T: It’s 40% Munich malt, which seems to be supported by a light amount of crystal (this isn’t a sugary mess like many new-world versions, there’s quality malt here). It’s very bready, with toffee, caramel and hints of dark fruit. It’s balanced by a very light noble spicing & bitterness. Alcohol is over 6%, but totally hidden. I love fresh, unfiltered beer. This one still had a fair bit of yeast, which was a little out-of-character for the style, but did compliment the breadyness. With a little time in the bright tank, I’m sure this would be a 4.0 for the style. M: Silky smooth, moderate body with an off-dry finish. D: Pour me a 1 L mug next time! Hopefully they’ll have some tank space by next spring. With their hard water, I’ve been itching for them to do a dunkel or Bock (their original Helles lager was phenomenal).

Peachy unfiltered coloured body with some white head, and later white lacing. Enjoyed on tap at the brewery, day after their bock tasting. Very good mouthfeel, an easy drinker. Fruity aroma. Malt forward far more than I have every had from this brewery, and the best beer they have made.