LAST week I rambled on about the cancellation of the world’s oldest beer festival Oktoberfest and reviewed a couple of Bavarian belters. Well, it seems that some of our Irish brewers have picked up the bratwurst baton and knocked out a few German-inspired brews to allow you to mark Oktoberfest at home (lederhosen still not included).
Bock is a dark lager, with minimal hopping and a much more malty flavour. The origin of the beer and its name go hand in hand. The style of beer originated in a town call Einbeck in southern Germany and was named after the town. When it was adopted by the great brewers of Munich, however, their Bavarian accent changed the sound to ein bock, which translates to ‘a billy goat’.
That’s why you’ll sometimes see a picture of a goat on a bottle of bock and why White Hag, who have a track record of embracing history and legend when naming their beers, came up with Heidrun as the name for their bock. Heidrun was the mythical goat who lorded it over Valhalla, don’t you know.
Anyway, Heidrun is a 6.5 per cent bock lager and comes in a 440ml can. It pours a nice dark brown colour with a slight tan head. There’s some nice roasty aromas as you would expect from a beer with roasted malt. To look at it, it’s easy to forget it’s a lager, but the thin and clean mouthfeel will remind you. However, the great achievement with this bock is that it manages to dance so many great flavours on such a thin base.
It’s got nice dark fruit vibes going on and a caramel-like sweetness. Those are the sort of flavours you’d get from a full-bodied stout or barrel-aged ale. The great trick, though, is not to make it feel too heavy. That way you can rip apart a giant pretzel and stuff it in your mouth while drinking this.
Next up is Galway Bay’s German-inspired Oktoberfest beer, which is a marzen lager, clocking in at 5.8 per cent.
The western brewers had previously released a smoked take on the style with Marzen To The Fire. This is a more straight up and down stab at a marzen. It’s has the clean, crisp mouthfeel of a lager but loads of nice toffee and malty sweetness going on and a slight herby hint.
