Anchor Bock

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours a barely transparent dark cinnamon brown with a thick and rather persistent fine-bubbled beige head. Strong, malty aroma has an overtone of wet grass and hints of caramel and cinnamon. Flavor has a malty core plus a strong grassy note and tones of wood plus hints of caramel and cinnamon. Did they use grass clippings for hops? (But seriously, folks.) Still, it is a drinkable and enjoyable beer with a strongly hoppy but not bitter finish and a good amount of body and fizz.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

pours a frothy crisp head of a cocoa-white tone over a very deep brown body with maple highlights and high clarity. Carbonation is plentiful and lively, retention is average and lacing is light and spotty. The aroma is chock full of nutty, biscuity, slightly chocolaty malt, hops are slightly spicy and herbal with a mild perceived bitterness. The flavor is much the same, with a slick, biscuity German and grainy caramel malt body and some citrus peel notes, a pinch of spicy hops. Texture is slick and faintly creamy, lightly grainy, mildly dry with a sharp, bold carbonation that makes for a crisp mouthfeel. The body is medium.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Nice looking dark ruby red color with a thick tan head. Aroma is of malt coffee and barley. The mouthfeel is pretty decent with just a tad note of bitterness from the hops. The flavor is okay but not complex.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

355 ml capped bottle. Poured in the original Anchor Ale glass a clear and rich burgundy, close to black, coloured Bockbier with a one finger, dense and creamy tan foamy head that had a very long retention and tons of micro bubbles. Soft carbonation. Good lacing. The aroma is roasted malts, coffeish and chocolate notes, intense red sourish fruits, berries, cherries. The flavour is intense roasted malts, a caramel touch, red fruits, berries, cherries, plums, dried fruits, nuts and burnt notes. The mouthfeel is quite thick, creamy, bitter and smooth. The texture is oily. This medium bodied Bockbier has a dry strong malty and fruity finish. Its unexpected marked fruity side makes this Bockbier from the US West Coast an interesting try.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

A deep mahogany colored ber wuth a big fluffy textured light beige in color. There's some hang time on that head. Settles eventually disappointingly with no ringlet. Nose is roasty and sugary. The taste deeper of the same with a licorce and dark fruit profile added in. Full bodied, smooth and well carbonated. May be among the best bocks I've had.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

I moved the flavor down to 7 here, but more like mid 7s to an 8. A 4.1 rating seemed a tad too high, so needed to even out to 4.0 :). Not a big bock fan, so not really about the flavor with this brew. Like all of Anchors beers, this has good mouthfeel....a nice creamy texture, with super dark brown, near-black appearance. Almost the same beer as their porter, but a little less malt and hops. This is just good old-fashioned beer.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

355 ml bottle, from the foreign beer bar at the Darlington Spring Thing Beer Festival 2011. ABV is 5.5%. Mahogany to dark ruby colour, big beige head. Malty aroma with notes of Schwarzbrot and caramel. The flavour is also very malty with notes of caramel and brown bread, very moderate hops. Nice enough to drink.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

A very nice dark mahogony color. Almost looks brown. Some ruby highlights piercing through. A light tan head that looked very smooth and creamy. A very full head with very, very nice retention and some pretty decent lacing. The aroma provided almost buttermilk type notes. Rick and malty. Rather robust. Tiny hints of lard. Even getting touches of dark fruit. It even smells rather sweet. Maybe even a touch of chocolate. The taste was a smooth, more of a dark fruit type flavor. Nice malty touches. This taste is super well balanced. Low with hop bitterness. Somewhat toasty. The "lard" taste is very well hidden. Again maybe even a hint of chocolate. Medium mouthfeel. Super smooth. Glides across the palate slickly. Dry. Coats the throat and tongue very nicely. A bit more thin than what I was anticipating. I'm not real big on "Bock" beers, but this one is the best Bock I have had thus far. Very well balanced in all aspects. Very easily drinkable. I would have no problem drinking this. Very sessionable and worth a try.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

It almost looks like a glass of coke when poured into a glass. More CO2 then most beers I have tried. It taste like a light bock, but a bit more bitter. It is good but nothing to right home about.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Mocha head melts quickly, but comes back with a few swirls. Reminiscent of some of it's siblings in the Anchor family. The dark brown hue is very pleasing to the eye. Nice sweet aromas of cola, fresh cream, malt and cocoa butter waft from the snifter. The flavor I thought was very nice. A little mild for the Bock style, as I am used to something a bit more assertive. Roasted wheat, barley and the flavor of brown sugar came to mind. The finish was light with slightly dry hop tinge to it. This is a very nice spring time beer. Fritz does it again. Another San Francisco treat to behold.