Samuel Adams Triple Bock

Formerly brewed at Boston Beer Company
Style: Barley Wine
Boston, Massachusetts USA

1997 vintage poured completely opaque dark brown with no head at all and a sticky, oily lacing. Overpowering wood, soy sauce and molasses on the nose, with lots of alcohol and a bit of chocolate. Very salty and sweet on the tongue. Oily mouthfeel, slight alcohol burn, and a sweet molasses aftertaste. I couldn’t get through two ounces of this, but it might have appeal to others. Glad I tried it, though.

bottle had no date on it. Pours black as used motor oil with no head. Nose is of licorice, soy sauce and malt. Taste is of fruit and licorice. Mouthfeel is sweet with alcohol warmth. Very complex. Definitely a sipper as it is potent stuff. Like a liquor. While many have expressed their dislike for this, I did appreciate it and did like it.

love the way it pours - deep purple/red with absolutely no head, but leaves an oily coating on the sides of the glass. aroma is mostly dark fruits, smoke, and licorice. immediate flavor is sweet fruit, but that quickly gives way to more overpowering flavors: soy sauce, licorice, smoke, bitter fruits. certainly an interesting beer, but not one that i’m likely to have again.

Well. The infamous triple bock. ’97 vintage. Aroma of woody bourbon-sherry. Chocolate. Pitch black to ruby around the edges. Taste. Soy sauce, plums and raisins. Not much burn given how much alcohol there is in it. I can’t say I hate it. Would I buy it again? No. Am I glad I tried it. Kinda, yeah. Edit-I think I got a really well-kept bottle. No chucks, etc..

First let me say that this beer very much blurs the lines of what a beer is. There is no carbonation, it’s not exactly bitter which is no surprise as it is a bock beer after all which do favor the sweet malty side of things as it is, and on top of that it has been extremely aged. The bottle that I tasted today was vintage 1994 (close to 16 years old at tasting.) With all of that in mind and leaving behind the definitions of what makes a beer a beer as apposed to any other type of spirit I will simply review the product itself as is. I.E what did I think of IT, whatever IT is. The aroma is striking; it is sweet and smells of dark fruits and bread with hints of molasses and alcohol. It pours with no head or carbonation to speak of and has a dark reddish brown appearance. The Triple Bock is slippery on the tongue and clings to the inside of the glass. Now as for the taste... I loved it. I found it to be heavy, warming, and smooth. This sample was poured into the Sam Adams Triple Bock Snifter provided me at the store where I purchased the beer and I drank it at about 50 F. If I were to force myself to think of this beer in traditional terms I am not sure how I would rate it. Perhaps many of those who write reviews here have strictly beer pallets but I personally found it useful to think of this beer in terms of sipping liquor or perhaps a "desert beer?" I found the experience wonderful.

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh That is all. Tasted at the ORF release from the same bottle as tarheels86. Chunky, opaque, and just plain ridiculous. I don’t know how you could possibly like this beer... 10 years ago maybe, but not now. And yes... I took the rest of the bottle to the face at the prodding of many at the tasting. It was... awesome

Multiple samples from the ORF pre-release tasting. Not sure what year this was- no tag. I see that there is a huge rift in the appreciation of this beer. First off, regardless of whether you like it or not, this is the thickest beer ever. It is so thick, that somebody spilled some on a white table cloth. Rather than the beer spreading out like a liquid spill, it colluded as a little black lump on the table as if this bottle was full of mud. It literally piled up into a blob. It pours a thick syrupy black, still, no carbonation. No head. The muddy dirtiness sticks to the edge of the glass and leaves black specks everywhere. Aroma is massive soy sauce, molasses, maple candies, port, rotting dark fruits, super thick caramel and burnt sugar. Almost overpowering. Taste is like drinking- excuse me- eating soy sauce in paste form with additions of caramel, figs, port, and oak. Thickest, chewiest palate ever- like used motor oil and molasses. Woah. Everyone at the tasting abhorred this beer. But I was loving it. It is really different, really just hilarious to behold and consume. Lots of fun to experience regardless of whether you like the taste or not. There was so much left over at the tasting that someone was dared to chug the rest of this bottle- cough cough SpencerDB. He did this and there is video footage. May he rest in peace.