Why is a goat on bock beer

Traditional variations on bock include doppelbock, a maltier, slightly stronger beer not double strength, as the name implies. The first doppelbock was Salvator, originally produced by the monks of the Order of St. Francis of Paula and now made under the Paulaner name in Munich. It's a dark brown, malty beer with a dry finish and an alcohol content of 7.

Other doppelbock brewers adopted the "-ator" suffix, producing beers such as Ayinger Celebrator and Spaten Optimator. Eisbock, the original ice beer, is frozen to remove some of the water and produce a stronger brew. Pale or "helles" bock is made from lighter malts than most other bocks. Maibock traditionally was released in May but now is available at the beginning of spring.

Two local brewers make bock beers. Chicago Brewing Co. It's a German-style bock of about 6 percent alcohol, dark ruby brown, full-bodied with a malty aroma and a pronounced hoppy bitterness.

Chicago Bock is only available on draft at about 40 Chicago-area establishments. The German spoken in Bavaria sounds very different from that spoken in the north.

The shift in pronunciation renders the southern dialect nearly incomprehensible to northerners. Despite stylistic similarities, evidence suggests that it developed independently with the Paulaner monks at Cloister Neudeck ob der Au in Munich. The monastic followers of St. Francis of Paola are vegetarian monks who observe two fasts each year, the longest being Lent. During the fasts the monks sustained themselves with a strong beer that was high in proteins and carbohydrates.

When the Paulaners arrived in Munich from Italy in , they brought this tradition with them. As the beer became available to the general public, the citizens of Munich noted the similarities to bock beer and began calling it doppelbock. Both traditional bock and doppelbock are strong lager beers that emphasize the rich character of Munich and Vienna malt. The BJCP guidelines describe them as having strong malt aromas and flavors dominated by toast and melanoidin, the caramel-like flavor derived from the kilning of malt.

A long boil or traditional decoction mashing can enhance the caramel tones. In doppelbock, all of these flavors and aromas are intensified and may be accompanied by notes of chocolate and dark fruits like plum or raisin in darker versions. Hop bitterness is low, just enough to support the malt and allow a bit of sweetness to linger into the finish.

There are typically no hop flavors or aromas in either style, although some subtle, spicy hop character may be present. Nevertheless they are quite spooky looking. Some are more playful than others while a few are down-right sinister looking. And this is what I bring to the mix as I view them simply because I have been conditioned to see them as such by years of books, movies, television, Christians, witches, heavy metal albums—the list goes on and on. Dates were nearly impossible to determine without a lot more research.

I would like to thank Jenny Lander for her editorial input, Dale Meier for letting me use his remarkable goat photographs , Steve and Sylvia Weir for moving to the great beer-brewing state of Pennsylvania, and yeast for its role in the fermentation of malt sugars. For without it we would simply have no bock beer and possibly a far less active imagination, depriving us of religion, art, music and, most important of all, a sense of humor.

I include more than a little bit of history on where this strange iconography came from. Enjoy the show! Share […]. You must be logged in to post a comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Close Menu Home. Featured Collections. Thirsty Germans. Part Four: So, where do we go from here? Art Label Gallery. Leave a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Loading Comments