Holsten Festbock

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

Serve in Dimpled mug, Snifter

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Holsten's Festbock is an exceptionally enjoyable, easy drinking beer that dishes up enough kick taste wise, aroma wise, style wise, and alcohol wise to really be considered a nice general drinking beer. But its high alcohol content (7%) does seep through in the taste which was a bit of a downer. However, if you're drinking a few brews a day, its tough to justify paying $5-10 a bottle for the great stuff, but Holsten's Festbock (obtainable locally for a mere $2.10CDN (that's $1.37USD) for a traditional 500ml can, this is not only enjoyable, its incredibly affordable. Packaged similarly to that of their Maibock and Premium (Lager), I've made the mistake on more than one occasion of picking up the Maibock (which is considerably lighter) when I really wanted the Festbock. Nonetheless, both are enjoyable, but the Festbock is clearly the frontrunner in their lineup. Pours surprisingly clean and crisp for a bock styled beer, with condersiderable thick frothy white head which disapates to a rather flat shallow surface murkiness., Thankfully, this one still delivers excellent (longterm) glass lacing. Exceptionally dark, hints of amber can be seen when raising your glass to a bright light. Taste wise, Festbock presents a very nice blend of caramel, chocolate and coffee tones, with a nice blend of malts and hops to make this more than just a little enjoyable. As mentioned earlier, there is a slight hint of the alcohol coming through, but the above characterists help to gloss over that minor drawback. I'm a fan of the bock concept with the Doppelbocks (Aventinus and Celebrator) clearly leading the ways in my book, but with the price of those at 2-4 times higher, Holsten's is a nice alternative when you've already got the important money wrapped up in the "premium" brews.

Dark, strong beer, sweet and full. Good as an occasional beer with a suitable food. I keep getting it. Quite a nice beer from a foreign macrobrewery. A quality beer to enjoy as a cheap drink.

a nice cheap beer with tonnes of flavour and alcohol, very dark and decent head great smell, sweet burndt kinda smell, strong tasting but interesting finish, not to bad

Very dark beer, more toward what I would classify as a stout or a porter. Malty flavor where you can sense teh 7% alcohol content.

Half litre can from LCBO. Dark chocolate appearance with off-white foamy head. Some spiciness and decent body but not much. Bordering on stale, skunky import. Not what I was expecting at all.

This has been one of my favorite strong beers for awhile but I have never rated it. Pours a nice dark red with good head that disapears shortly after. Very rich strong taste, lots of flavour. This is one of my favorite beers.

slightly sweet slighly fruity flavour; deep golden colour. not too much flavour for a dark beer

UPDATED: DEC 23, 2008 This was a 500ml can. Tasted this during the first campfire of the year. Great looking beer, chocolate brown with a nice and creamy head. Aroma was malt and apples. A sweet taste as well, malt and chocolate. A little bit of hops in the finish. Not your typical German beer by any regard, but it was still very enjoyable.

A flavourful and strong dark beer. Looks very appetizing in a textured mug.