Beer Of The Week (Vol XVII)

Another chapter in the Beer of the Week sage brought to you by the fine folks at Glen Lake Wine & Spirits in Minnetonka, your one-stop shop for the cause and solution to all of life's problems.

This week is a very special edition. The beer featured is a limited release and I'm not even sure if it's currently available or not. I recently received a bottle as a gift and figured anything that comes in such an ornate package deserves a review.

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock is part of the brewer's series of "Extreme Beers," which claim to challenge the very definition of what beer is. That's a pretty bold claim for the Boston Beer folks to make. Does their Chocolate Bock deliver the goods?

The bottle is brown and large (25.4 ounces). The label is metallic, raised, and etched. It's a very refined look.

Beer Style: Bock

Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%

COLOR (0-2): Very dark brown almost black. 2

AROMA (0-2): Malty with subtle scents of vanilla and cocoa. 2

HEAD (0-2): Light brown. Fades pretty quickly with little lacing. 1

TASTE (0-5): Rich malt with chocolate and vanilla tones. Has some taste characteristics that make it seem more like a stout than a bock. Smooth finish. 4

AFTERTASTE (0-2): Long lingering flavor. 2

OVERALL (0-6): A complex beer that challenges your taste buds. Not a beer for the light-hearted, this is a "dark beer" that lives up to the appearance. While you're not going to want to (or even been able to) put back too many Chocolate Bocks in a night, it would be a great beer to have at a dinner party paired with dessert. 4

TOTAL SCORE (0-19): 15