I’ve always wanted to try making my own bock beer.  I tend to brew stuff that’s around the same gravity, and wanted to try a higher gravity beer.  What better place to start than with the beer style Pabst spread around the country at the turn of the 20th century?  Just kidding, I was hoping to get something close to Salvator.  It didn’t have to be a doppelbock, but I did want a higher gravity beer.

I had been hoping to brew a bock beer so it was ready in spring.  It’s the spring thing to do, right?  Well, I didn’t quite get to it, but last weekend I managed to squeeze out enough to brew my first batch of bock beer.  Does brewing it in spring count?

Aroma and color are dead on the money.  The fermentation has been going very well.  The only thing a little disappointing is the original gravity.  It’s not as high as I had hoped.  I was hoping to get 1.064 or higher.  My hyrometer measured a mere 1.056.  Mine will end up being more true to the American Bock found more in Texas and the Midwest.  I guess that’s fitting since I live in Wisconsin.

I hoping to bottle it in about 1 week.  So, check back then and I’ll let you know what the final gravity is and the alcohol content.  Then check back a couple weeks later and I’ll let you know how it tastes.

So, my latest homebrew incarnation turned out much better than I originally thought.  I bottled this honey weiss a couple days after Christmas.  I looked a little darker than I had been shooting for.  After just 2 weeks in the bottles, I cracked one open and it had poor head retention, was lacking in the yeasty noise you’d expect from a weiss beer, and had just an okay balance.  I thought, maybe I just didn’t give it enough time.  Plus, I hadn’t refrigerated the first one.

 So, last night I popped open another one after putting in the fridge earlier in the day.  What a difference a week makes!  The head was composed of an inch of tiny bubbles that didn’t want to simply go away.  Last week, the bubbles were huge and completely gone in about 2 minutes.  It had a nice yeasty nose with just a touch of honey.  It had a lighter mouth feel and it started slightly sweet with malty and honey flavors.  Then it finished with just the right amount of hops without becoming bitter.  Still a little dark in color but that’s not gonna change no matter how long it sits in the bottle. 

In all, it is one of my better brews and since I usually prefer darker ales and stouts that’s high praise.