Holsten Festbock

Brewed by Holsten-Brauerei (Carlsberg)
Style: Dunkler Bock
Hamburg, Germany

Serve in Dimpled mug, Snifter

Can. Dark brown, fairly flat, not much head. Others have mentioned cola, and it is indeed a little like flat cola, with a little more body. Given my other Holsten samplings have been drain pours, this isn’t bad. Doubt I’d buy it again though, unless I forget I’ve tried it.

500 mL can from the LCBO, served cold in a tulip glass. MR09/07

App.: Clear, medium-cola, with reddish hues and a tight tan head. Aroma: Metallic, a bit of resinous hops, sweet toffee and caramel, some rye bread. Nicht so gut. Palate: Medium-full body, a little syrupy, fairly full carbonation. Flav.: Cardboard, pepper, fairly dry, some of the piney/resinous hops, and a bit of burnt sugar. Finished like my father’s favourite foods: alcohol and rye bread.

Nein, danke! Gibt mir ein besser Bier.

This bock poured a dark brown colour with a tan coloured foamy head. A little caramel to the nose along with the scent of coffee and slight burnt hint. First sip is a little syrupy with the flavour of molasass and caramel. Finish is malty with burnt flavours....right through to the palate.

500ml can, shared with VeloVampire - The biggest lesson I learned from this beer is, don’t keep drinking when you are already drunk. Anyways, it’s dark amber/copper with a small, quickly dissipating off-white head. Aroma is of dark malt, quite sweet and slightly bready. Boozy as well. Taste is pretty much the same - boozy, bready, with sweet, vaguely caramely malts making up the flavour profile. Not great, and way too alcoholic in the mouth. I think I wanted to drink this just to get it out of my fridge. Oh yeah, also from my scrawled notes: sweeety sitilbs.

From a can. Malt and coffee aroma. Pours with a dark brown hue and an off white head. Highly carbonated. Very malty flavour with coffee and dark chocolate notes. The alcohol content is noticable in the finish.

UPDATED: MAR 17, 2008 looked nice, aroma of malt, and a tiny bit of sweetness. flavour, malt, and booze. doesn’t hide the 7% at all. some redeeming caramel malts in the flavour, but meh.

UPDATED: JUL 10, 2008 Clear mahogany body, large off-white head with medium retention and very good lacing. Looks great. Aroma is peppery and dry wood. Not bad so far. Taste was a let-down. The main problem is the way-too-watery body. A touch of molasses, a touch of caramel, a touch of raisins, somewhat grassy and earthy. Doesn’t sound too bad when I re-read myself but it wasn’t very tasty and the watery body didn’t support the flavours. Festbock maybe, feast of a bock certainly not.

50 cl can, Shelburne. Dark brown with a thin beige head. Malt aroma, burnt malt with a very sweet taste, not as strong alcohol flavour for the strength. Minimal aftertaste, nice bitterness and warm finish.