- Product Reviewed: Abita Bock
- Brewed By: Abita Brewing Company, Abita Springs, Louisiana
- Form Reviewed: Bottle purchased in Louisiana, December, 1994.
- Original Posted to Usenet: June 28, 1995
- Style: Bock
Initial Impressions:
My December road trip yielded a bountiful supply of review material. Here it is late June, and I am not even through half of it. Problematic is that I have been generating notes since, obviously, which are piling up -- I am not about to stop drinking beer, right? There is some fairly interesting stuff in my backlog, including notes taken during a recent Microbrew Appreciation Society research mission into Portland, Oregon, and notes taken during the annual Herbfarm Microbrew Festival in Fall City (which was held June 17 and 18). I believe that this was the eighth annual Herbfarm festival; I have been to the last six.Returning to the task at hand, I obtained three bottles of Abita beer on the December trip, including the Bock, Amber Lager, and a bottle of the 1993 Christmas Ale. Unfortunately, the latter remains in cold storage; that bottle will not be reviewed to the net. The Bock and Amber Lager were tasted several months ago, however, and these reviews will be posted.
Abita is one of only several microbreweries located in the deep south. It is found in Abita Springs, just a hop across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. Definitely drive that bridge across the lake; it makes for an interesting 28 miles. At $1 per car, it stands out as one of the better scenic bridge values in the country. Abita has been in business since 1986; as of 1993 they were producing slightly over 10K bbl. The brewery prides itself on using the local spring water for their beer. A water analysis of this spring would be interesting.
The Bock appeared deep golden -- nearly copper -- in my glass. There was little evident head, and what there was failed to hang out for the duration of the pint. The beer also revealed a slight haze.
Nose:
The aroma of the Bock was fairly interesting. A nice but subtle maltiness framed a light spicy hoppiness, possibly from Tettnanger? While stylistically one ought not perceive any hop aroma, this was not a major flaw. (It is not as though they dry hopped with Cascade.) I would have enjoyed a fuller maltiness in the nose, as well.Flavor:
The pint presented a medium-bodied, sophisticated flavor profile. A pleasant maltiness came first, which blended into a combined hop flavor/ alcohol middle. Once again, the hops offered a spicy note to the beer, ruling out several varieties. The finish was a spicy maltiness, leading me to speculate on the use of Munich malts.Final Analysis:
A good bock beer in North America is fairly hard to find. I can think of several decent helles (e.g. Dominion or Thomas Kemper), a couple of good dopplebocks (Saxer, and again Dominion) and a rather unique "Eisbock" (Niagara Falls). Traditional dark bocks seem rare, though. I guess it is sexier to employ the suffix "ator" with the concomitant malt assault. This bock, however, bucks that trend (if one can really call it a trend) by being, in my opinion, a very good example of a dunkles bock. I thought that perhaps the hop character was overly pronounced; while I did not detect any assertive bitterness, the flavor and (especially) the aroma were a bit high for the style. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this beer.
Rating:
(Very Good on my 5-star scale)Next Up:
Abita Amber Lager
Wharf Rat Special Bitter
Widmer Berliner Weisse
Leavenworth Dirty Face Stout
