Next week’s beers
We’re about a week from show #1, so it’s time to scare up the drink-along beers. I’ll leave the show theme a mystery, but the beers will be
Pilsner Urquell [alteranatives: Warsteiner Premium Verum, Bitburger Premium Pils]
and
Anchor Steam [alternatives: this one's tough due to its unique stature.. if any local brewery produces a "California Common" beer, go for it]
Two towering classics, and as such should be easy to find just about anywhere. Good hunting.
March 17th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
I’m looking forward to your next show but , I gotta tell you that I’m having a hard time locating the next beers here in NJ. Seems that here they carry the standard stuff along with Pete’s, Killians Red, and Sam Adams. Which leads me to this question, Sam Adams has a brew called Chocolate Bock. What is a “Bock” beer and how does it differ from ales, stouts and porters? I think the chocolate refers to the color which is obtained by using toasted grain, althought I have heard of some homebrews using bakers chocolate ( not hersheys ) in their recipes.
Am I correct ?
March 19th, 2006 at 7:11 am
JohnV–Bock is a style of lager originating in Germany and popular in the spring (stouts and porters are ales–the other beer family). Bocks are malty, clean-tasting, and strong. Stay tuned for “The Big Damn Bock Show” episode upcoming for more bock info and history.
As to chocolate–yeah homebrewers will throw anything in there. My experience with chocolate was less than satifactory, but I was in a weird mood and combined baker’s chocolate with peat-smoked malt in a beer I named “Witch’s Brew”. Ugh. Sam Adam’s chocolate bock uses malt infused with chocolate flavor from cocoa nibs (crushed roasted cocoa seeds).