Schokolade Bock 2004
Today, I am filtering the first batch of Schokolade Bock. We will be bottling it on Wenesday. I think of all of our beers, this one is the one that is the most asked about. This is because one year we rushed it out during Oktoberfest (because we ran out of Oktoberfest beer!) and people have been looking for it in October ever since. But we really don’t have the capacity to do two seasonals at the same time like that. We just sold out of Oktoberfest at the brewery this weekend, so November is perfect timing for us to release the Bock.
This years Bock is very malty and nutty, and has its typical tawny brown hue. It has been aged for five weeks, which I now consider to be the minumum for this beer. Lagering the beer really mellows it out, and that is essential in a good bock beer.
The second batch has been in the lager tank for three weeks already, and we will be making the third batch next week. We should have the bock around until February.
I have had some very good Pumpkin beers lately. It really a interesting and very american style of beer. They do not always contain pumpkin, but they are generally ales that have pumpkin pie spices in them. I had one nice example at Ram Brewing in Schamburg, IL a few weeks ago. They sprinkled fresh ground nutmeg on the top of each glass. I know that sounds over-powering, but it was actually quite tasty! I also had Raccoon River’s Pumpkin ale last weekend, that was a very tasty brew. Dave over there says that he put seventy pounds of canned pumpkin into the mash! I have always been of the opinion that no pumpkin is neccessary in a pumpkin beer, because pumpkins actually do not taste like anything, that is why pumpkin pie is spiced! But I have to say, adding real pumpkin does add some body to the beer, which I found very interesting.
Finally I had a good batch from one of my homebrewing friends. His was a bit more mellow on the spices, but that was good, because you could definately drink more than just one. He said one year he used real roasted pumpkin, and it gave the beer an orange head!
I have never been impressed by any pumpkin beer I have ever had in a bottle, this is a thing that should be done fresh, and served with an appropriate meal, and a brewpub is perfect for that. So this is one style that we really cannot make here at Millstream. We have plenty of brands to manage as it is!