Back in Bier

Bock-static

You'd think that with the somewhat recently updated, seemingly more user-friendly blog post-creation format, that I'd have more regular updates on this blog. Well, there's plenty of proof already that that's not the case. Though I have been writing posts for friend's blog for the last six consecutive weeks. I guess when there's a deadline involved and I'm not my own editor, then I'm a pretty dependable writer. Doesn't bode well for a freelance career, necessarily, does it?

Much has happened since the last round of updates, not the least of which was my learning that there is a direct Dutch translation and usage mimicking of the saying 'the whole shebang': 'de hele mikmak'. I love it. Often with American-English expressions, there may be a direct translation in Dutch, but no useful meaning - it's just not the way the Dutch would say it. This one, however, I'm told, is good for both.

There's also been a bachelor party weekend in Prague, a pre-honeymoon 3rd-wheeling weekend in Paris and our rabbit Bob Ross continuing to gain weight, despite our feeding him significantly less on vet's orders. He prefers to be referred to as 'fluffy', but we try not to bring it up at all. Oh, and I guess there was a 'knowing each other anniversary' weekend with the girlfriend in Munich quite a few weeks back as well. That's me, Mr Jet-setter.

But enough chit-chat: let's get down to beer-ness. It's been even longer since I've featured a tasty brew. This one was more than deserving of my persevering through formatting obstacles and the like.

The Texels ("tessels"; a microbrewery on a namesake small island of the Netherlands so far north, it's practically Norway) Bock has been an award-winner in the Netherlands for the past two years and recently captured the overall championship at the 34th annual PINT Bokbier Festival in Amsterdam. I was at that festival, though sadly too late to sample the stuff. The kegs had run dry. Fortunately there were a few others to sample. And fortunately I happened upon a 75cl bottle on sale at one of the local Den Bosch liquor stores. It performed, well, like a champion.

It pours a dark, rich ruby-mahogany with a hearty tan head. At the festival I sampled several that fell on either side of this appearance - some more red, translucent and sweet, some more pitch black (don't get me started on the 'smoked' entry) and bitter - and for the style, there's not so much snobbery as to poo-poo a little creative exploration of appearance, texture, etc. But personally, I like the strong German-style lager about in the middle, and that's exactly where Texels sets their Bock.

Both smell and taste carry a strong amount of roasted and dark-chocolate/dull caramel flavor, striking a wonderful harmony of savory and sweet. A little unusual for a lager, I suppose, there's a tingly complexity to the 'mouth feel' that I more typically experience with a strong ale. The effect is taste buds do-si-doing with the flavors for a bit longer than they might otherwise. It also means it might be a little intense to drink vast quantities of, but we're living in an era of portion control anyway, right? Right?...

Though I haven't been around the US for the last two years to really be a part of the burgeoning microbrew consumer community, from what I have heard and seen, it seems creativity and diversity are the order of the day - from chocolate milk double stout IPAs to honey raspberry brown bourbon ales (ok maybe slight exaggeration) - rather than picking a handful of styles and just trying to do them really well. Texels has done the latter here. They didn't try to innovate, rather brew the best-possible continuation of a generations-old traditional style. Even Steve Jobs would appreciate this approach.