Miasmatic Review

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock

Last weekend at Fort Obie, Petey of Petey’s Powderhorn decided that he wanted to jump up on the enablers list and gifted me a box full of beers to review. Thanks Petey! I started with the first beer in the box that I had been chomping at the bit to review. Tonight I’ll be reviewing Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock by Samuel Adams in Boston, MA.

It comes in an impressive 1 pint, 9.4 fl oz brown bottle, aka 25.4 fluid ounces. The label looks like cast pewter, texture and all. The name of the beer takes up most of it. What looks like hops are flowing around the edge to the bottom where it kind of resembles tilled fields. The bottle cap is covered with a plastic wrapper, which reminded me of how wine is sealed.

There is a nice dark brown coloring to it with a touch of crimson to it. Light passes through with much difficulty. When I initially poured it, an inch thick tan head formed. The head was made up of tiny bubbles. The head fades to a ring around the top of the beer. There is no lacing at all.

The smell is very simply that of chocolate and cocoa. You can make out the feint scent of malts as it warms. The taste is very simple as well; it’s mostly chocolate with a touch of coffee malts. There is a bit of bitterness to it that one associates with coffee and dark chocolate. The aftertaste is reminiscent of chocolate milk.

This is a medium bodied beer, based on the appearance I was figuring it would be a bit more full bodied.

This beer costs about $14.99 a bottle locally (Thanks again Petey!); to be honest I was expecting a lot more from it. It’s not a bad beer, but for the price it’s really not worth it. Based on the price, the bottle and the marketing, I’m going to say this is one of those beers that is drunk by people being pretentious. I enjoyed the beer, but it was lacking in its simplicity. Overall I give it a 5.5 out of ten.