Královský Lev (Lev Lion Pale Double Bock)

Brewed by Mestansky Pivovar
Style: Bohemian Pilsener
Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic

A double bock? I wouldn’t have known from the light color and ABV under 5%. still, this beer is like so many uneventful lagers. Sessionable? Sure. Quaffable? You bet. Tangy crisp hop flavor weaker than choicer Bavarian lagers, but not too shabby either.

Bottle: Lighter yellow pour with a large white head and average lacing. Aroma is sweet with some malt. Taste is plenty of sweet malts and an earthiness. Smooth to drink, but lacks a defining flavor and/or intensity?!

Bottle pours a clear medium golden color with a soapy foamy white head that quickly dissipates. Light pale grain pilsner aroma. Pale slightly sweet malt flavor with a slight metallic character. Thin but soft body and very little after taste. This style is hard for me to distinguish between one sample and another. Quafable I suppose, but I just don’t get it I guess.

Bottle - from Tres Bonne Cuisine, thanks to Bück Dich for the new store. Pours a crisp light golden yellow color with almost no head. Aromas of minor hops, malts, and grains. Flavor is a nice crisp hoppy/grain taste with a nice clean finish.

Sweet and lightly spicy aroma; sweet, clean, and malty with a tangy and crisp finish; quite thick for a pils, but I don’t get the double bock moniker.

Bottle procured at Tres Bonne Cuisine, a polish deli in Boise: Pours a pale yellow color with an average looking head and lacing. The nose is lightly sweet with some light malt and a twang of alcohol. The flavor is neutral, not very assertive in any category. Awefully light for a double bock but I’m thinking it’s more or less a pilsner. A crisp hop bitterness in the tail. Went well with a bockwurst I had for lunch.

An average beer if you ask me. Hope that doesn’t stir up the Czechs around here, but the flavor was average (slightly sweet with citrus or fruity tones) and somewhat weak. The color was a neat and fairly clear amber orange. Somewhat sour/bitter bite at the end. There was no head from pour to finish.

(500 ml bottle: $1.99 at Hollingshead Deli in Orange, CA) Comparing the Pale Double Bock side-by-side with the Export Lager, the main difference is the type of maltiness. Here, the "pale bock" maltiness is slightly sweeter but less bready with more of an emphasis on the graininess. Hops and bitterness seems about the same, and again, hints of oxidation and metal are present toward the finish. But overall, this the malts are The medium body is a bit heavier than the Export Lager, naturally, and the palate is balanced more toward the malty end of the spectrum. Well carbonated, but In appearance, both beers look almost identical: Golden color and crystal-clear clarity are the same, but this beer produces a fluffier and taller head, again, white in color, but also shows decent retention, gradually settling to a wide ring. A few spots of lace are scattered on the glass. Overall, this beer is more to my liking than the Export Lager, more malty, less bready, heavier body. I don’t really understand why they call it a Pale Double Bock, it’s really more just a Pale Bock to me, but that’s a quibble with the name, not the beer.