Old Dominion Spring Bock

Product Reviewed: Dominion Spring Bock
Brewed by: Old Dominion Brewing Company; Ashburn, VA
Review by: David Brockington
Original Posted to Usenet: May 22, 1994

This beer was mailed to me by Charlie G. Hence, it spent a few days in a BAA box as it traversed the continent. Therefore, you should take the following with the appropriate measure of salt. However, Charlie assures me that the beer he selects for transcontinental travel is the freshest he can find. The bottles, both before and after shipping, are refrigerated. Every effort is done to make sure that the beer undergoes as little torture as possible.

Initial Impressions:

This beer came packaged in a standard 12 ounce longneck bottle. Dominion has a policy of stamping the bottling date on their bottles, which is an activity that more brewers ought to follow. The bottling date on this sample of Spring Bock was April 20, 1994. The beer was reviewed (by myself alone this time) on May 18. While OD does not pasteurize their beers, (which is a sign that the Dark Side of the Force has not completely taken over yet) I have been told that they do use a Krones bottler with an undercrown gasser. From my highly limited knowledge of professional bottling lines, this one is one of the best -- oxygen introduction to the bottled product is kept at an absolute minimum, which would allow for the beer to last longer.

This bottler eases my initial fears of the short fill -- there was some 2 inches of headspace under the cap in the bottle. Ideally, this headspace would contain little or no oxygen, so this shouldn't have been a problem. When I poured the Bock into my glass, it immediately began to meet my expectations of what a Spring Bock should be. The beer was proudly pale in shade, with an admittedly forced white head that dissipated rather quickly. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down any notes on the lacework, so I can't comment on that aspect of this beer. I suspect I was enjoying it too much. :)

Nose:

The nose exhibited little of distinction, save for a moderate degree of maltiness. There were no hops in the nose, which is to be expected out of a Bock. The maltiness was pleasant enough.

Flavor:

This beer is clearly a Bock beer -- Malt, Malt, Malt! It starts off with a nice, malty and alcoholic warming sensation, followed by a hint of caramel notes. This evolved into a malt sensation in the middle -- not too strong and sticky, but definitely a pleasant malty body. The finish closed out with a nicely done balancing hop bitterness with merely a teasing hint of hop flavor. This beer is also exceptionally clean and crisp. I may have noted a hint of DMS floating around the profile a bit, but not enough to really be concerned about it. I initially guessed that they lager their beer (and Charlie G. substantiated my guess) due to the cleanliness, crispness, and focus on malt in the flavor profile.

Final Analysis:

A crisp, clean, and pleasantly, but not overwhelmingly malty Helles Bock. It is definitely an excellent beer, but it does not stand out. However, considering the style, one wouldn't want it to stand out.

**** (out of five)

Next Up:

David Brockington, Seattle, USA
bronyaur@u.washington.edu