Beer: Spring is bock season in the craft beer world — in California, too

For centuries, March has been bock season in many beer-drinking cultures. You might not know that here in the IPA-obsessed Bay Area, where bock is becoming harder to find, but I think it’s time for this beer to be appreciated once more. If it can happen with craft pilsners, why not bock?

The first bock beers began appearing between 1203 and 1256 near Hamburg in Einbeck, Germany. Back then, an “einbeck” or “einbock” was a top-fermenting beer — essentially an ale — brewed with two-thirds barley and one-third wheat. Like today, it was darker in color and a little stronger and richer than everyday beer. It was brewed as winter approached, using whatever grain remained from the year’s brewing. Then it was lagered (stored) through the winter and tapped in the spring.

What we think of as modern bock — or dunkles bock to distinguish it from lighter-color versions — was created in Munich during the 1800s, when Bavarian brewers looking to reproduce its popularity made a bottom-fermenting (lager) beer with the same characteristics as an einbek. They called it Munich bock
beer. Over time, it became known simply as bock, and since bock is the German word for “goat,” you’ll often see goats on the bottle label.

German brewers who emigrated to the U.S. brought bock with them and so dominated the market, bock season soon extended from March into May. Tastes change, of course. As Americans began favoring lighter beers in the mid-20th century, the market for bocks declined and did not rebound until the craft beer movement that began in the late 1970s.

Traditional bock is fairly dark in color — light copper to brown — with strong malty aromas that include bready notes with a touch of toastiness. While many malt-forward beers tend to be sweet, bocks are generally less so, with enough hops for balance, but they should not taste bitter. Often there is light caramel and dark fruit character, too. They’re slightly higher in alcohol, but which translates to a warming mouthfeel, perfect for the cool weather of early spring.

Of course, brewers didn’t just keep making one version of bock. Like most beer styles over the centuries, variations emerged. Doppelbock is a stronger, richer version of regular bock, and often bears names with an -ator suffix, such as Paulaner Salvator.

Lighter variations include helles bock, Maibock or blonde bock, which are all lighter in color, but with the signature maltiness of the darker varieties. Weizenbock is made with wheat; it’s similar to German-
style hefeweizen, hazy and with banana and clove character, but darker in color and with more malt flavors. Weizenbocks are probably my favorites in the bock family because the diverse aromas and flavors work really well together. (I may be in the minority on that, though, because they are especially hard to find.)

The least common is eisbock or “ice bock,” which concentrates the brew’s alcohol levels by freezing the beer and removing the water. (It’s illegal to make it commercially in this country, unless a brewery has a distillation license.)

You’ll find imported bocks, typically from Germany and Austria, at well-stocked liquor stores and chains.
But Bay Area breweries make them, too. Richmond’s East Brother Beer Co. releases both a doppelbock and a Maibock each spring. And when I visited INC 82 Brewery in Dublin last month, I tasted a dopplebock that brewer Ricky Landrum had in the tank. It wasn’t quite ready at the time, but showed great promise. When I spoke to him more recently, he expected it to be on tap at the brewery in March — for bock season.

Contact Jay R. Brooks at [email protected].